VICTORIAN INJURY SURVEILLANCE & APPLIED RESEARCH SYSTEM HAZARD 50 page 1

Hazard(Edition No. 50)Autumn 2002Victorian Injury Surveillance& Applied Research System (VISAR)(Formerly VISS)

www.general.monash.edu.au/muarc/visar

Monash UniversityAccident Research Centre

The 50th issue of HAZARD,a celebration of VISAR’s achievementsKaren Ashby, Angela Clapperton, Joan Ozanne-Smith, Erin Cassell, Jenny Sherrard, Christine Chesterman and Virginia Routley

IntroductionThis is the 50th issue of Hazard, thequarterly publication of the VictorianInjury Surveillance & Applied ResearchSystem (VISAR). VISAR (formerlyVISS) was established in 1988 to collect,maintain, analyse and disseminate injurydata from hospital Emergency Depart-ments (EDs). The initial focus wasconfined to child injury prevention. Theservice expanded from 1990 to addressinjury issues across all age groups andutilised surveillance data at three levelsof injury severity (deaths, hospitaladmissions and ED presentations).

In its early years of operation, VISSconcentrated on defining the size andnature of the injury problem in Victoria,always linking new information topotential countermeasures and injuryprevention strategies. In 1999 the role ofVISS was formally expanded to includean applied research function and its name

was changed to better reflect its expandedrole. VISAR is a major project of theMonash University Accident ResearchCentre (MUARC) and is funded byVicHealth.

Hazard is a popular and important vehiclefor the widespread and timelydissemination of data and injuryprevention information on current andemerging injury issues. Hazard reportsinformation on the causes and severity ofinjury, the risk and contributory factorsto injury and the locations, products andactivities associated with injury. Hazardincludes commentary and recommenda-tions on injury prevention implementationand evaluation, the development ofsupportive policy, regulation andlegislation and also reports data andsurveillance system development. Theultimate goal of VISAR is to contributeto injury prevention. This 50th issue ofHazard is devoted to presenting 50achievements in injury prevention in

Victoria and beyond in which VISARhas played a significant role.

The foundation stone ofprevention: data collectionand analysisVISAR has substantial holdings ofstatewide injury data at three levels ofseverity (Table 2). Case numbers arevery large permitting a broad range ofstatistical analyses to inform injuryprevention interventions and to providean evidence base for evaluation of theeffectiveness in injury preventionprograms, strategies and measures.

Notwithstanding the real progress ininjury prevention over the past 15 yearsfor some causes and age groups, injuryremains the leading cause of prematuredeath between 1 and 44 years andaccounts for approximately 10% of allVictorian hospital admissions. Therewere 1,933 injury deaths, 166,484 injury

This edition of Hazard highlights the significant contributions that VISAR has made to injury prevention inVictoria, nationally and internationally.

VICTORIAN INJURY SURVEILLANCE & APPLIED RESEARCH SYSTEM HAZARD 50 page 2

hospitalisations and at least 224,723injury ED presentations in Victoria in thelatest year of data for each level ofseverity. The estimated total lifetime costof injury sustained in 1993/4 in Victoriawas $2,583 million, equivalent toapproximately $3,305 million in Year2002 dollars.

VISAR servicesVISAR data need to be utilisedextensively to support the goal of injuryprevention. Aside from informationpublished in Hazard, injury data andinformation on specific issues areavailable ‘on-request’ or limited data canbe accessed via the VISAR website.VISAR utilises all available data sourceswhen servicing information requests.Regular VISAR clients include educationbodies, all levels of government,researchers, industry/commerce and themedia. VISAR has successfullyencouraged local government andcommunity organisations to use its dataand information service. This integrateswith MUARC’s role as a World HealthOrganisation (WHO) Safe CommunitiesAffiliate Support Centre.

Hazard is circulated quarterly to a mailinglist of 1,400 direct subscribers.Approximately 1,700 copies of variouseditions are now downloaded monthlyfrom the VISAR websitewww.general.monash.edu.au/muarc/visar. The number of special informationrequests completed by VISAR increasedto a high of 591 in 2001 (Figure 1). Inaddition, there were 8,532 informationdownloads from the VISAR website inthe 12-month period July 2000-June2001, including Hazard downloads.

VISAR data are regularly used by themedia to inform the public and tostimulate public debate on importantinjury issues including sport andrecreation, farm, nursery furniture anddog bite injuries, motor vehicle exhaustgassing suicides, drowning, poisoning,and DIY (do-it-yourself) maintenancerelated injury. VISAR contributes injury

Commonly used abbreviations Table 1

VISAR Victorian Injury Surveillance and Applied Research SystemMUARC Monash University Accident Research CentreVISS Victorian Injury Surveillance SystemABS Australian Bureau of StatisticsVCFS Victorian Coroner’s Facilitation SystemVAED Victorian Admitted Episodes DatasetVEMD Victorian Emergency Minimum DatasetED Emergency DepartmentWHO World Health OrganisationDHS Department of Human ServicesDHAC Department of Health and Aged CareRCH Royal Children’s HospitalACCC Australian Competition and Consumer CommissionVWA Victorian WorkCover AuthorityTGA Therapeutic Goods AssociationINPAA Infant and Nursery Product Association of AustralianASTM American Society for Testing and MaterialsDIY Do-It-YourselfCRC Child Resistant ClosureOTC Over-the-counterROPS Roll Over Protective StructuresPPE Personal Protective Equipment

Databases of incident cases held and utilised by VISAR Table 2

Level of severity Source No. of cases

Death Victorian Coronial Facilitation System(VCFS): July 1989 to June 1995

Australian Bureau of Statistics – NationalInjury Death data (ABS-Deaths)1970; 1975; 1980; 1985; and 1990 to 2000

9,238

118,109

Hospital admission Victorian Admitted Episodes Database(VAED). Comprised of:- public hospitals, July 1987 to June 2001

- private hospitals, July 1992 to June

2001

1,335,184

1,075,132

260,052

Hospital emergencydepartmentpresentation

Original Victorian Injury SurveillanceSystem database (VISS):Nov 1988 to July 1996, 7 campuses of 5Victorian public hospitals (detailed data)

Victorian Emergency Minimum Dataset(VEMD): October 1995 to March 2002,28 Victorian public hospitals (Level 1data)

173,330

1,213,306

data and information to an average offive newspaper, magazine, radio andtelevision reports each month.

VICTORIAN INJURY SURVEILLANCE & APPLIED RESEARCH SYSTEM HAZARD 50 page 3

An overview of 50achievementsThe grouping of 50 selected successstories (Table 3) reflects the mixedapproaches taken to injury preventionwhich may focus on the injury cause, agegroup, the setting in which the injuriesoccur or the method of prevention.VISAR’s efforts and achievements havebeen weighted heavily in three areas:unintentional child injury; all-age injuriesthat occur in three settings - the home,sport and recreation facilities, and work(particularly the farm environment); andthe development and promotion of safedesign solutions (including the develop-ment of voluntary and mandatory safetystandards and safety regulations and theirenforcement). Other age groups, settingsand preventive approaches have alsoreceived attention and examples in theareas of intentional injury prevention andorganisational and policy change areincluded in this report.

Child unintentional injurypreventionThe latest year of VISAR data at eachlevel of severity records 60 deaths, 11,364hospital admissions and 53,723 EDpresentations for unintentional injury in

Victorian children aged 0-14 years. Themajor causes of child unintentional injurydeath in 2000 were transport (30%),drowning (22%), fire/burns/scalds (13%),choking/suffocation/foreign body (7%)and poisoning (7%). The highest-riskage group for childhood injury fatalitiesis 0-4 year olds. ABS death data indicatethat unintentional injury deaths in children(0-14 years) have decreased by morethan 50% since 1979 across all threefive-year age groups, mainly due todecreases in motor traffic related deathsand drowning. Injury deaths associatedwith fire/flames and hot substancesappear not to have changed much overtime, although numbers are too small todraw definitive conclusions.

The major causes of hospital admissionsin 1999/2000 for unintentional injury inchildren were falls (38%), transport(18%), hit/struck/crushed (12%),poisoning (8%) and cutting/piercing(5%). VAED trend data show that therate of total admissions increasedsignificantly over the period 1987/88 to1998/99 for age groups 0-4 years and 5-14 years. In 0-4 year olds the trend inadmissions increased for both falls andpoisoning cases (but only significantlyfor poisoning), whereas near drowning,fire/burn injuries and scalds showeddecreasing trends. Over the same period,

the total falls rate and falls from playequipment increased significantly inchildren aged 5-14 years, whereaspedestrian and bicycling injuries declinedsignificantly.

The major causes of ED presentation forchild unintentional injury in 2001 were:falls (42%); struck by/collision withperson and object (20%); cutting andpiercing (7%); transport (5%) andpoisoning (3%). Trend data are notavailable because numerator data areincomplete.

Nursery products andfurniture-related injuryEach year in Australia 6,540 childrenaged 0-4 years present for medicaltreatment for nursery product andfurniture-related injury and at least 540of these cases (8%) require hospitaladmission. Just over half (54%) thechildren involved are under 12 monthsold.

Analysis of VISAR data reveal that themajor nursery furniture productsassociated with injury are: prams, cots,high chairs, baby walkers, strollers,change tables and baby exercisers(bouncers). In terms of injury severity,cots are associated with the highestmortality. (Of the 13 nursery furniture-related deaths identified in Victoriabetween 1985 and 1994, 10 wereassociated with cots.) In terms of non-fatal injury, prams, cots and high chairsfigured most prominently, although babyexercisers or bouncers are associated withthe most severe non-fatal injuries (one inthree cases result in hospital admission).Falls are the most common cause of non-fatal injury in every nursery furnitureproduct category ranging from 43% inthe case of baby bouncers to 78% in thecase of change tables.

VISAR has strongly advocated for thedevelopment of Australian safetystandards for those nursery products mostassociated with injury to facilitate thedesign, behavioural and environmentalchanges that have most potential to reduceinjury (Table 3). VISAR has made a

VISAR data information requests (1991-2001) Figure 1

VICTORIAN INJURY SURVEILLANCE & APPLIED RESEARCH SYSTEM HAZARD 50 page 4

substantial contribution to the Infant andNursery Product Association ofAustralian (INPAA) Code of SafePractice developed by Kidsafe withsupport from the CommonwealthDepartment of Health and Ageing. TheCode is currently adopting best practicerequirements for change table design.More globally, VISAR has made asignificant contribution to the develop-ment of the ISO/IECGuide 50 SafetyAspects – Guidelines for child safetywhich was approved by 36 countries in1999, including Australia (Table 3).

Unintentional poisoningAlthough unintentional poisoningaccounts for very few childhood injurydeaths (four in Victoria in 2000), thelatest year of VISAR data show 903poisoning admissions (1999/2000 data)and 1,644 ED presentations (2001 data).The rate of hospitalisation for poisoningin children aged less than five years ofage has significantly increased in Victoriaover the last ten years (Stathakis, 1999).Children aged 0-4 years are the mostvulnerable group for poisoning injuryaccounting for half the injury deaths,89% of admissions and 87% of EDpresentations. Most poisoning incidentsinvolve very young children accessingpharmaceuticals in the home.

In terms of prevention, generic measuresare more likely to be effective but agent-specific approaches are also justified.Child resistant packaging is the mosteffective intervention currently available(Clarke & Walton, 1979; Morris &Klinberg, 1986; Rodgers, 1996; Scherzet al., 1969; Walton, 1982; Wiseman etal., 1987). However, reports of poisoningby agents that are required to have childresistant closures (CRCs) suggest thereis room for improvement in their efficacy(Hoy et al., 1999; Ozanne-Smith et al.,2001). Also, reports that access topoisoning agents frequently occurs attimes when the agent is not in its usualstorage place suggests that recommendedsafe storage options may not be practicalin all circumstances (Ozanne-Smith etal., 2001).

Home injuryVISAR data indicates that the home isthe most common location for injury,particularly for the youngest and oldestage groups. Forty-nine per cent of childinjuries presenting to EDs and 29% ofadult injuries occur in the home (Routley& Ashby, 1997). Of these injuries, atleast 30% and 26%, respectively, areassociated with structures, fixtures andother features incorporated into a homeat the design, building or renovation stage.

Each year in Victoria 50,000 new homesare built and 100,000 homes undergomajor renovations. If these homesincorporated safety features, the potentialfor injury reduction would be high andlong lasting. VISAR conducted a reviewof injuries associated with home designin 1997 and found that the most frequentlyidentified structural components of thehome that were associated with injurywere floors, concrete and paved surfaces,stairs and steps, doors and domesticarchitectural glass.

A series of Victorian safety display homeshave demonstrated that a systemsapproach can be taken to preventinginjury associated with home structures.These display homes showcase safetydesign features and products and are usedfor public education. According to thebuilders, the features that are mostpopular with home buyers are: poisonscabinets; designs that incorporate a fullview of play areas from the kitchen; safekitchen design; non-slip bath and showerbases; and a driveway separated fromplay areas.

Research by VISAR and others, advocacyby community groups and professionals,and policy development by relevantauthorities have resulted in legislation ofsome home safety features including theregulation of bathroom hot water to 50ºC,smoke alarms, swimming pool fencingand toughened glass for lower levelwindows. Each of these home safetydesign features has been mandatedthrough incorporation into the AustralianBuilding Code or the Building Code ofVictoria.

Most recently, VISAR data were used tounderpin the MUARC reportcommissioned by Kidsafe Australia andthe Commonwealth Government whichinvestigated the feasibility of addressinghome design issues through a safetyaccreditation scheme for homes (Watson.,et al, 2002). MUARC identified a numberof potential interventions that could beincluded in a safety accreditation schemewhich were assessed on three inclusioncriteria: strong evidence base for injuryprevention effectiveness, acceptability tohomeowner and cost-effectiveness (Table3).

VISAR also highlighted the home as thelocation of most falls in older people,Do-It-Yourself home maintenanceinjuries and domestic violence.

Sport and recreation relatedinjuryIt is difficult to get a complete picture ofthe size and nature of the sport andrecreation injury problem in Victoria.There is no comprehensive sports injurysurveillance system that collects datafrom the full range of treatment facilities(hospitals, sports medicine centres,general practitioners, physiotherapistsand other services). Although notrepresentative of all sports injury cases,the VEMD currently has the best potentialto yield useful and timely data but requiresenhancement.

The VEMD underestimates the size ofthe hospital-treated injury problemmainly because the coding systemclassifies all sport and leisure-relatedcases together and there are no sub-classifications to identify the specificsport, recreation and leisure pursuitsbeing engaged in at the time of injury.This information should be included inthe one-line case description but is notwell recorded. Searching on the broadcodes (activity: sport and leisure)identified 119,126 injury presentations(excluding admissions) in the 3-yearperiod 1999-2001. A text search of casenarratives clearly identified 41,969 sportand active recreation cases (35% of allsport and leisure cases).

VICTORIAN INJURY SURVEILLANCE & APPLIED RESEARCH SYSTEM HAZARD 50 page 5

The sports and recreation activities withthe highest frequencies of EDpresentations in 1999-2001 were:Australian football (20% of identifiedsport and active recreation cases); bicycleriding (15%); motor/trail/mini-bike riding(10%); basketball (8%); soccer (6%);playing on play equipment (6%); netball(5%); skateboarding & in-line skating(5%); cricket (4%); and horse riding (4%).

Between 1996 and 2001 MUARC andthe Deakin University School of HealthSciences, supported by grants from Sportand Recreation Victoria, undertookreviews of the epidemiology of injury in22 popular sports and active recreationalpursuits and the evidence base forprevention in each. The reviews covered:aerobics; alpine skiing; Australianfootball; baseball; basketball; cricket;cross-country skiing; golf; gymnastics;hockey; horse-related; in-line skating;lawn bowls; netball; running related;snowboarding; soccer; softball; squash;tennis; volleyball and boxing. VISARprovided Victorian ED surveillance datafor each of these reviews. Sport andactive recreation related injury is thesubject of the next edition of Hazard.The edition will update sports and activerecreation injury data for Victoria andprovide evidence-based advice onpotential countermeasures.

Contributions to policychange, design standards,regulation and legislationEffective strategies for injury preventionfall into four major groups: legislation/regulation; environmental/design change;education/behaviour change; andcommunity/organisation based programs.In order to achieve a particular objectivea number of these may be employedconcurrently or sequentially (Ozanne-Smith, 1995). VISAR has maintained along-term interest in the developmentand adoption of safer designs and designstandards and safety-related regulationand legislation particular in relation toconsumer products.

Legislation/regulation in various formshas proven to be an effective injury

prevention and control method. Welldocumented Australian successes includeAustralian Design Rules for motor vehiclesafety (eg. seat belts), child resistantpackaging for poisoning agents,restrictions of the availability ofbarbiturates in the 1970s (suicidereduction) and roll over protectivestructures on new tractors. The level ofcompliance, influenced by level ofenforcement (real or perceived)contributes to the effectiveness ofregulations.

Consumer product related injury is thelargest generic injury issue, crossing theboundaries of settings, population groups,intent and responsible jurisdiction.Products impact in approximately 70%of all injuries (Watson & Ozanne-Smith,1995). MUARC studies, utilising VISARdata, have provided a broad descriptiveanalysis of child and adult injuries acrossvarying severity levels looking at theinvolvement of different consumerproducts. These studies have highlightedthe involvement of products in the vastmajority of injuries, and the variation ofproduct types at different severity levelsand age groups (Altman et al, 1997;Watson et al, 1999; Watson et al, 2000).

Consumer product safety is a complexarea requiring a systematic evidence-based approach to both product designand regulation. However, action inVictoria and Australia on dangerous andsub-optimal products is generally reactiveand focussed on dealing with “problemproducts” or, even more narrowly, onsingle specific problems associated witha product.

There are several barriers to progress inproduct safety in Australia. These includedata issues, jurisdictional barriers andthe lack of a general Product SafetyDirective (as instituted in Europe andcurrently under development in Canada).Current coding systems used in the healthsector and coronial databases do notconsistently identify product-relatedinvolvement in injury. The responsibilityfor preventing some common injuriesrelated to consumer products is not clearlydefined or accepted by government

departments, for example off-roadmotorcycle injuries and injuriesassociated with many aspects of homedesign and structures. Also, there iscurrently no mechanism for identifyingemerging hazards associated withconsumer products. This could beaddressed by adopting legislation, similarto that in the United States, which requiresmanufacturers and importers to informauthorities of consumer complaints andother information relevant to the safetyof their products.

Despite these barriers, VISAR, in co-operation with other bodies, hassuccessfully advocated for a range ofvoluntary safety standards, and, in caseswhere voluntary standards and marketforces have been ineffective in achievingcompliance and injury reductions, theintroduction of mandatory standardsthrough regulation (Table 3).

VISAR data have been used to identifyinjury priorities and set injury reductiontargets in national, state and local publichealth, injury prevention and communitysafety strategies and action plans. VISARstaff have provided data and injuryprevention advice to inform policydevelopment on a range of specific issuesincluding pool fencing, child resistantcigarette lighters, gun control, motorvehicle exhaust gas suicide prevention,domestic violence early interventionprotocols, and the development ofproduct safety standards for furniture andequipment.

Surveillance systemsdevelopmentsVISAR has recently updated andenhanced its databases. One of theseenhancements was to apply geographicalregion data to VISAR death (ABS),admissions (VAED) and presentations(VEMD) data. This was accomplishedby using the seven category Rural,Remote and Metropolitan Areas (RRMA)classification that was developed by theDepartment of Primary Industries andEnergy and the (then) CommonwealthDepartment of Human Services andHealth. VISAR then collapsed the more

VICTORIAN INJURY SURVEILLANCE & APPLIED RESEARCH SYSTEM HAZARD 50 page 6

specific categories into 3 broader ones.Hazard 46 (March 2001) provided anoverview of injury in Victoriangeographical regions.

Another enhancement was to add socio-economic status data to the injury dataheld for deaths (ABS), admissions(VAED) and presentations (VEMD).This allowed VISAR to undertakepopulation analyses of injury byeconomic status. Findings from theseanalyses were published in Hazardedition 49 ‘Socio-Economic Status andInjury’ (December 2001).

VISAR recently implemented a fore-casting model where regular predictionsare made utilising trend data in order toalert VISAR, relevant authorities and thecommunity, of future trends in injury andemerging injury issues. The system hasthe capacity to predict trends in injurydeaths (ABS), hospital admissions(VAED) and ED presentations (VEMD)for all categories of injury and on suchfactors as age, gender, cause and SESstatus.

Several methods for estimating injurymorbidity have been applied to VISARdatabases. Health outcome measuressuch as Disability Adjusted Life Years(DALYs) and Quality Adjusted LifeYears (QALYs) have been applied to thehospital admissions data (VAED), andYears of Life Lost (YLLs) data havebeen applied to ABS deaths data.

Database Descriptions

• Australian Bureau of Statistics – Death Unit Record File (ABS– DURF)Death data are derived from the ABS-DURF which consists of information suppliedby State Registrars of Births, Deaths and Marriages. Each death registered inAustralia is classified by the ABS according to the World Health Organisation(WHO) International Classification of Diseases (ICD) coding system.

• Victorian Admitted Episodes Dataset (VAED)The VAED contains information on admissions to Victorian hospitals over a 14-year period – July 1987 to June 2001. The data are collected by Health ComputingServices Victoria under the direction of Human Services Victoria. Detailedinformation on hospital admissions, from admission to discharge, is collected. Theinformation on the nature of injury is based on the diagnosis by physicians.MUARC has access to all records involving injury and poisoning.

• Victorian Emergency Minimum Dataset (VEMD)The electronic VEMD database records details of injuries treated at the emergencydepartments of 28 major public hospitals (see page 27). The total number of caseson the database to March 2002 was approximately 1,200,000. The injury variablescollected include injury cause, location, activity, nature of main injury, body region,human intent and a narrative describing the injury event. VEMD hospitals representapproximately 80% of statewide emergency department presentations. The dataprovided to MUARC does not include all ED presentations, only injury specificcases. It is not possible, therefore, to analyse any VEMD data that may have beenre-categorised to a non-injury grouping. A MUARC study found that the VEMDcaptured 82% of VEMD injury presentations.

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Community Safety MonthOctober 2002This year Community Safety Week has been movedto the month of October and will have four focii:

Week 1 Oct 1-7 Crime Prevention WeekWeek 2 Oct 8-14 Emergency Services WeekWeek 3 Oct 15-21 Injury Prevention WeekWeek 4 Oct 22-28 Workplace Safety Week

For updates and information and to register activities:www.comunitysafetymonth.com

thinkSAFEactSAFEfeelSAFEbeSAFE

VICTORIAN INJURY SURVEILLANCE & APPLIED RESEARCH SYSTEM HAZARD 50 page 7

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ents

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ilit

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auto

mat

icb

rakin

go

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eps

and

safe

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war

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gla

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he

add

itio

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bab

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itto

fit

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man

dat

ory

safe

tyre

qu

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ents

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pro

xim

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20

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artm

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of

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asu

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20

01

).

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ent

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elo

ped

am

and

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Sta

nd

ard

for

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fect

ive

fro

mM

arch

20

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he

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fety

and

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atio

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qu

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on

-co

mp

lian

tre

tail

ers,

man

ufa

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and

imp

ort

ers

may

be

sub

ject

tofi

nes

up

to$

NZ

10

0,

00

0(S

afek

ids,

20

01

).

Co

ts(H

aza

rded

itio

ns

14

,1

99

3;

37

,1

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8;

and

44

,2

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Co

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that

occ

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19

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son

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the

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invo

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asp

hyxia

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Sin

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99

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po

ten

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inju

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sks

are

entr

apm

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stra

ngu

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on

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ffo

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and

fall

s.

VIS

AR

dat

ash

ow

s2

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cot-

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the

per

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19

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alls

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or

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(10

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pre

do

min

ate.

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ep

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pre

sen

tati

on

sar

ead

mit

ted

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osp

ital

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VIS

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pro

vid

edd

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toin

form

the

19

97

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AR

Cre

po

rto

nn

urs

ery

furn

itu

re(W

atso

net

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19

97

).T

he

rep

ort

reco

mm

end

edth

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tro

du

ctio

no

fa

man

dat

ory

cot

stan

dar

db

ecau

seth

eex

isti

ng

vo

lun

tary

stan

dar

dw

asn

ot

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ctiv

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red

uci

ng

cot-

rela

ted

dea

ths

bec

ause

of

po

or

com

pli

ance

.T

his

reco

mm

end

atio

nw

assu

pp

ort

edb

ya

nu

mb

ero

fo

ther

stak

eho

lder

sin

clu

din

gth

eA

ust

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on

sum

ers’

Ass

oci

atio

n(A

CA

),a

lon

g-t

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advo

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of

am

and

ato

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and

ard

.

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em

and

ato

ryA

ust

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)ca

me

into

effe

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ne

19

98

.T

he

Sta

nd

ard

cover

sn

ewan

dse

con

d-h

and

cots

.

Fo

llo

w-u

pco

mp

lian

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rvey

sw

ere

con

du

cted

inth

ela

te1

99

0s

inN

SW

and

Qu

een

slan

d,

and

by

the

AC

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,2

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LD

17

%o

fth

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tsin

ves

tigat

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rio

usl

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hed

the

new

Sta

nd

ard

.T

he

NS

Wco

mp

lian

ceca

mp

aign

aim

edto

edu

cate

sup

pli

ers

of

new

and

seco

nd

-han

dco

ts.

Su

pp

lier

so

fn

ewco

tsan

dse

con

d-h

and

nu

rser

yfu

rnit

ure

sho

wed

hig

hle

vel

so

fco

mp

lian

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her

eas

sup

pli

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of

gen

eral

seco

nd

-han

dh

ou

seh

old

furn

itu

rean

dan

tiq

ue

cots

wer

egen

eral

lyu

naw

are

of

the

new

req

uir

emen

ts.

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eco

tsw

ere

test

edb

yth

eA

CA

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nly

on

efu

lly

com

pli

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ith

the

Sta

nd

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ree

cots

fail

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ore

than

on

esa

fety

test

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ein

du

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rod

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oci

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isin

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sult

sfr

om

com

pli

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inves

tigat

ion

sfo

rfe

arth

atco

nsu

mer

sm

ayre

ver

tto

less

safe

alte

rnat

ives

such

asp

laci

ng

slee

pin

gb

abie

sin

adu

ltb

eds

or

pra

ms.

Itsh

ou

ldb

en

ote

dth

atm

any

of

the

pro

ble

ms

wit

hco

tco

mp

lian

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ere

no

td

irec

tly

rela

ted

tosa

fety

.

Th

em

and

ato

ryco

tS

tan

dar

dw

asam

end

edin

Ap

ril

20

01

tosp

ecif

ical

lyin

clu

de

anti

qu

ean

dco

llec

tab

leco

tsth

atar

en

on

-co

mp

lian

t.T

hes

eco

tsm

ust

no

wb

eso

ldw

ith

ace

rtif

icat

ean

dp

erm

anen

tsi

gn

age

war

nin

gth

ata

chil

dsh

ou

ldn

ot

be

pla

ced

inth

eco

t.

VICTORIAN INJURY SURVEILLANCE & APPLIED RESEARCH SYSTEM HAZARD 50 page 8

543H

igh

cha

irs

(Ha

zard

edit

ion

s1

4,

19

93

;3

7,

19

98

;an

d4

4,

20

00

)

VIS

AR

dat

aid

enti

fied

30

1h

igh

chai

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ost

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ses.

Th

em

ost

freq

uen

tly

occ

urr

ing

inju

ries

are

hea

dan

dfa

ce(4

8%

)an

din

trac

ran

ial

(20

%).

Nin

ep

erce

nt

of

case

sw

ere

adm

itte

dto

ho

spit

al.

Inju

ries

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mo

nly

occ

ur

wh

ench

ild

ren

fall

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mth

eh

igh

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rb

ecau

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stra

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abse

nt,

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tu

sed

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ate

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adu

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per

vis

ion

isin

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icie

nt.

Asm

all

pro

po

rtio

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ific

ant

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emit

ies

and

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icfa

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ep

rod

uct

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rex

amp

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coll

apse

of

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chai

r).

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sear

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full

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nd

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hig

hch

airs

and

that

har

nes

ses

sho

uld

be

sold

wit

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igh

chai

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atso

n&

Oza

nn

e-S

mit

h,

19

93

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19

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inV

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ho

mes

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,1

99

9).

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een

hig

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gh

ted

inth

ree

edit

ion

so

fH

aza

rd.

VIS

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dat

ao

nh

igh

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nd

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inn

edth

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99

7M

UA

RC

rep

ort

on

nu

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yfu

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ure

inju

ry(W

atso

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,an

do

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agen

cies

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vo

cate

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men

to

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dar

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rh

igh

chai

rs,

incl

ud

ing

pro

vis

ion

sfo

rh

arn

esse

s.

An

Au

stra

lian

Sta

nd

ard

for

hig

hch

airs

isb

ein

gd

raft

ed(D

R9

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31

).T

he

ob

ject

ive

of

the

pro

po

sed

Sta

nd

ard

isto

spec

ify

fun

ctio

nal

,d

ura

bil

ity,

stab

ilit

yan

dp

erfo

rman

cecr

iter

iare

late

dto

safe

tyin

mu

ltip

urp

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and

con

ver

tib

leh

igh

chai

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rd

om

esti

cu

se.

Als

oin

clu

ded

are

req

uir

emen

tsfo

ra

rest

rain

tsy

stem

and

mar

kin

gre

qu

irem

ents

.

Itis

anti

cip

ated

that

the

dra

ftS

tan

dar

dw

ill

be

read

yfo

rp

ub

lic

com

men

tb

yO

cto

ber

20

02

and

imp

lem

ente

db

yO

cto

ber

20

03

.

Pra

ms

an

dst

roll

ers

(Ha

zard

edit

ion

s1

4,1

99

3;

37

,1

99

8;

and

44

,2

00

0)

Inju

ries

asso

ciat

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ith

pra

ms

and

stro

ller

sar

em

ost

com

mo

nam

on

gch

ild

ren

aged

less

than

on

eyea

r.O

ver

the

5-y

ear

per

iod

19

96

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00

VIS

AR

dat

ain

dic

ate

ther

ew

ere

atle

ast

59

8E

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rese

nta

tio

ns

for

pra

man

dst

roll

erin

juri

esto

chil

dre

nag

ed0

-4yea

rs.

Ap

pro

xim

atel

yth

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qu

arte

rs(7

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fin

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vo

lvin

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ram

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roll

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are

cau

sed

by

fall

s.S

up

erfi

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(27

%)

and

intr

acra

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juri

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red

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are

for

hea

dan

dfa

cein

juri

es.

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enp

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of

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sar

ead

mit

ted

toh

osp

ital

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e-q

uar

ter

of

pra

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elat

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llin

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eat

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pra

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over

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fro

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ne

level

toan

oth

er,

sugges

tin

gp

rob

lem

sw

ith

stab

ilit

y.

Des

ign

fail

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ave

cau

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asm

all

nu

mb

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fd

eath

sb

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ph

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revie

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aff

mem

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lved

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inth

eu

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cau

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eath

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asp

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ese

dea

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eca

use

db

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ilu

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of

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hea

db

oar

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ue

tou

nse

cure

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ver

ing

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ves

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are

sult

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in-d

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tigat

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fp

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rela

ted

dea

ths

by

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AR

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aff

for

the

Co

ron

er,

the

exis

tin

gS

tan

dar

d(A

S/N

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20

88

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of

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and

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oll

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asam

end

ed.

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eam

end

men

tai

med

too

ver

com

eas

ph

yxia

tio

nri

skb

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roh

ibit

ing

the

use

of

loo

sefi

ttin

gh

ead

bo

ard

cover

san

dp

rob

lem

sw

ith

stab

ilit

y.

Ad

dit

ion

alac

tio

nis

req

uir

edto

rem

ove

pra

ms

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hth

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des

ign

fau

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mu

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aza

rded

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11

,1

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2;

14

,1

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,2

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late

dto

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sis

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erth

anth

atfo

rco

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fth

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ted

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the

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td

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stra

lia

ther

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ave

bee

nat

leas

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dea

ths

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ph

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ent

inth

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em

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soci

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jury

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pre

sen

tati

on

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efa

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(85

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dan

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mb

entr

apm

ent

and

han

gin

gb

yp

rotr

usi

on

sin

the

vic

init

yo

fth

eto

pb

un

k.

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em

ost

com

mo

nin

juri

esar

eh

ead

and

face

inju

ries

(29

%),

fore

arm

and

wri

stin

juri

es(2

0%

)an

din

trac

ran

ial

inju

ries

(10

%).

Th

ein

jury

ho

spit

alis

atio

nra

teis

hig

h,

15

%o

fp

rese

nta

tio

ns

are

adm

itte

dto

ho

spit

al.

VIS

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firs

tre

po

rted

on

bu

nk

bed

inju

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dec

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aza

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11

(19

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dh

asco

nti

nu

edto

mo

nit

or

and

rep

ort

thes

ein

juri

es.

Ear

lyw

ork

by

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So

uth

Au

stra

lian

(SA

)H

ealt

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om

mis

sio

nle

dto

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elo

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ent

of

avo

lun

tary

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nd

ard

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99

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kB

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.

In1

99

7,

VIS

AR

sup

pli

edd

ata

toth

eM

UA

RC

revie

wo

fb

un

kb

edin

jury

(Wat

son

etal

.,1

99

7)

that

was

use

db

yth

eC

on

sum

erA

ffai

rsD

ivis

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of

the

Co

mm

on

wea

lth

Dep

artm

ent

of

Ind

ust

ry,

Sci

ence

and

To

uri

smto

dev

elo

pth

eca

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ra

man

dat

ory

Au

stra

lian

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nd

ard

for

bu

nk

bed

s.A

sub

seq

uen

tR

egu

lato

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tate

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to

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ury

con

clu

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that

am

and

ato

ryS

tan

dar

dw

asre

qu

ired

toen

sure

com

pli

ance

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man

ufa

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.(R

esea

rch

un

der

taken

by

the

Inju

ryP

reven

tio

nan

dC

on

tro

lU

nit

inS

Ah

adsh

ow

nth

atm

anu

fact

ure

rsw

ere

pro

du

cin

gb

un

ks

that

com

pli

edw

ith

the

vo

lun

tary

Sta

nd

ard

bu

tw

ere

con

tin

uin

gto

man

ufa

ctu

ren

on

-co

mp

lian

tm

od

els.

)

Inth

esa

me

tim

ep

erio

d,

am

arket

pla

cesu

rvey

con

du

cted

in1

99

7b

yth

eQ

uee

nsl

and

Off

ice

of

Fai

rT

rad

ing

fou

nd

that

the

mo

stre

adil

yav

aila

ble

bu

nk

bed

sd

idn

ot

com

ply

wel

lw

ith

the

vo

lun

tary

Sta

nd

ard

inth

ear

eas

of

gap

s,h

angin

gh

azar

ds

and

roll

-ou

tp

rote

ctio

n.

DH

S(S

ou

thA

ust

rali

a)in

itia

tives

stro

ngly

sup

po

rted

by

VIS

AR

,M

UA

RC

and

agen

cies

acro

ssA

ust

rali

acu

lmin

ated

inth

ed

evel

op

men

to

fa

man

dat

ory

Sta

nd

ard

for

bu

nk

bed

s.

Th

eF

eder

alT

rad

eP

ract

ices

Act

man

dat

ory

safe

tyS

tan

dar

d(A

S/N

ZS

42

20

:19

94

)is

sch

edu

led

toco

me

into

forc

eo

nN

ovem

ber

1,

20

02

.T

he

Sta

nd

ard

req

uir

esth

atb

un

kb

eds

sup

pli

edin

Au

stra

lia

hav

egu

ard

rail

so

nal

lsi

des

of

the

top

bu

nk,

hav

en

ogap

sin

gu

ard

rail

san

do

ther

par

tso

fth

eb

edst

ruct

ure

that

po

sean

entr

apm

ent

risk

and

no

snag

po

ints

that

cou

ldh

oo

kch

ild

ren

'scl

oth

ing.

VICTORIAN INJURY SURVEILLANCE & APPLIED RESEARCH SYSTEM HAZARD 50 page 9

6 7 8

(2)

Un

inte

nti

on

al

pois

on

ing

inch

ild

ren

Ch

ild

po

iso

nin

g(1

):ch

ild

-res

ista

nt

clo

sure

s(H

aza

rded

itio

ns

1&

2,

19

88

;4

,1

98

9;

27

,1

99

6;

and

47

,2

00

1).

Du

rin

g1

98

8V

ISA

Rd

ata

sho

wed

ther

ew

asa

pro

ble

mw

ith

chil

dre

nac

cess

ing

chil

d-r

esis

tan

tcl

osu

res

(CR

Cs)

.T

his

led

VIS

AR

toq

ues

tio

nth

ead

equ

acy

of

the

Au

stra

lian

Sta

nd

ard

for

CR

Cs.

In1

99

6,

VIS

AR

agai

nh

igh

ligh

ted

the

on

go

ing

pro

ble

mo

fyo

un

gch

ild

ren

acce

ssin

gag

ents

that

are

pac

kag

edw

ith

CR

Cs,

such

asp

arac

etam

ol.

VIS

AR

advo

cate

dth

eex

ten

sio

no

fre

qu

irem

ents

for

CR

Cs

too

ther

agen

tsco

mm

on

lyas

soci

ated

wit

hch

ild

po

iso

nin

g.

VIS

AR

reco

mm

end

edim

pro

ved

CR

Cd

esig

ns,

wh

ich

wer

efa

ilsa

fean

dem

plo

yed

cogn

itiv

era

ther

than

mec

han

ical

met

ho

ds

of

acce

ss.

VIS

AR

pro

vid

edd

etai

lso

fch

ild

po

iso

nin

gca

ses

inw

hic

hch

ild

ren

acce

ssed

dru

gs

and

po

iso

ns

fro

mp

ackag

ing

wit

hC

RC

sto

the

Co

mm

on

wea

lth

Dep

artm

ent

of

Hea

lth

and

Agei

ng,

the

Th

erap

euti

cG

oo

ds

Ad

min

istr

atio

n(T

GA

),th

eA

ust

rali

anP

har

mac

euti

cal

Man

ufa

ctu

rers

’A

sso

ciat

ion

,S

tan

dar

ds

Au

stra

lia,

the

Min

istr

yo

fC

on

sum

erA

ffai

rs,

Kid

safe

and

the

Vic

tori

anP

ois

on

sIn

form

atio

nC

entr

e.

Th

eT

GA

has

exp

ress

edit

sin

ten

tio

nto

mo

nit

or

chil

dre

n’s

acce

ssto

ph

arm

aceu

tica

lp

rod

uct

s.

Ch

ild

po

iso

nin

g(2

):E

uca

lyp

tus

oil

(Ha

zard

edit

ion

s2

7,

19

96

;4

3,

20

00

;an

d4

7,

20

01

)

VIS

AR

dat

ain

dic

ated

that

euca

lyp

tus

oil

ses

sen

ces

and

esse

nti

alo

ils

are

maj

or

po

iso

nin

gag

ents

inE

Dp

rese

nta

tio

ns.

Th

ead

mis

sio

nra

tefo

rth

ese

po

iso

nin

gca

ses

ish

igh

–5

8%

of

pre

sen

tati

on

sar

ead

mit

ted

toh

osp

ital

.

VIS

AR

iden

tifi

edeu

caly

ptu

so

ilp

ois

on

ing

case

sfo

ra

MU

AR

Cca

sese

ries

stu

dy

toas

sess

the

circ

um

stan

ces

of

the

po

iso

nin

gev

ent

and

the

mea

ns

of

acce

sso

fth

ech

ild

toth

ep

ois

on

.

Th

ep

aren

tsan

dca

rers

of

10

9yo

un

gch

ild

ren

wh

oin

ges

ted

euca

lyp

tus

oil

wer

ein

terv

iew

ed.

Th

ree-

qu

arte

rso

fin

ges

tio

ns

wer

eac

cess

edd

irec

tly

fro

mth

evap

ori

ser

un

it.

Th

eu

nit

was

mo

stco

mm

on

lylo

cate

din

the

bed

roo

m(6

0%

)an

d,

in7

5%

of

case

s,w

asac

cess

edat

flo

or

level

(Day

etal

.,1

99

7a)

.

MU

AR

Cco

nd

uct

eda

con

sult

ativ

ew

ork

sho

pto

iden

tify

po

ten

tial

des

ign

solu

tio

ns.

Pla

cem

ent

of

ap

hysi

cal

bar

rier

over

the

vap

ori

ser

wel

lw

asp

rop

ose

dto

pre

ven

tac

cess

tofl

uid

san

dh

ence

red

uci

ng

the

op

po

rtu

nit

yfo

rin

ges

tio

ns

or

scal

din

g.

Ap

ote

nti

alb

arri

erto

this

des

ign

chan

ge

was

the

po

ssib

ilit

yth

atth

eco

ver

ing

of

the

wel

lw

ou

ldca

use

con

den

sati

on

and

may

resu

ltin

anel

ectr

ical

haz

ard

.

An

ewm

and

ato

rysa

fety

Sta

nd

ard

for

hu

mid

ifie

rs(v

apo

rise

rs;

AS

/NZ

S3

35

0.2

.98

:98

)ca

me

into

op

erat

ion

fro

mJu

ly1

,2

00

0.

Th

isS

tan

dar

dsu

pp

lem

ents

or

mo

dif

ies

the

corr

esp

on

din

gcl

ause

inA

S/N

ZS

33

50

.1S

afe

tyo

fh

ou

seh

old

an

dsi

mil

ar

elec

tric

al

ap

pli

an

ces.

Th

eo

bje

ctiv

eo

fth

isn

ewS

tan

dar

dw

asto

dea

lw

ith

elec

tric

alh

azar

ds

that

may

occ

ur

du

rin

go

per

atio

no

fa

hu

mid

ifie

r.

Th

eS

tan

dar

dsp

ecif

ical

lyst

ipu

late

sel

ectr

ical

req

uir

emen

ts.

Th

ere

isli

ttle

evid

ence

,h

ow

ever

,o

fan

yas

soci

atio

nb

etw

een

vap

ori

ser

un

its

and

elec

tric

alin

juri

es.

Alt

ho

ugh

con

tro

lo

fp

ote

nti

alel

ectr

ical

haz

ard

sis

imp

ort

ant,

the

Sta

nd

ard

do

esn

ot

dir

ectl

yad

dre

ssth

etw

om

ost

imp

ort

ant

cau

ses

of

vap

ori

ser-

rela

ted

inju

ry,

bu

rns

and

po

iso

nin

g.

Th

eS

tan

dar

dre

qu

ires

lab

elli

ng

of

avap

ori

ser

ifth

ete

mp

erat

ure

of

the

wat

ero

rst

eam

exce

eds

60

oC

,w

ith

aw

arn

ing

ind

icat

ing

“ho

tst

eam

”o

r“h

ot

wat

er”.

Wh

ile

this

wri

tten

war

nin

gm

aym

od

ify

par

enta

lb

ehav

iou

rit

pro

vid

esin

adeq

uat

ep

rote

ctio

nfo

rch

ild

ren

aged

less

than

2yea

rs,

the

hig

hes

tri

skgro

up

for

inju

ry.

Aco

mm

on

inju

rysc

enar

iois

that

chil

dre

np

lay

wit

hth

ese

un

its

inb

edro

om

sw

hen

sup

ervis

ion

isat

am

inim

um

.

Ch

ild

po

iso

nin

g(3

):R

od

enti

cid

es(H

aza

rded

itio

ns

4,

19

89

;2

7&

28

,1

99

6;

and

47

,2

00

1)

VIS

AR

iden

tifi

edro

den

tici

des

asth

ele

adin

gsi

ngle

agen

to

fn

on

-ph

arm

aceu

tica

lp

ois

on

ing

inE

Dp

rese

nta

tio

ns

of

yo

un

gch

ild

ren

.H

aza

rd2

8re

po

rted

that

,an

nu

ally

,an

aver

age

of

11

ho

spit

alis

atio

ns

inV

icto

ria

and

2.3

%o

fca

lls

toth

eV

icto

rian

Po

iso

ns

Info

rmat

ion

Cen

tre

wer

eas

soci

ated

wit

hch

ild

ren

acce

ssin

gro

den

tici

des

.

Acc

ess

toro

den

tici

des

was

inves

tigat

edin

the

afo

rem

enti

on

edfo

llo

w-u

pca

sese

ries

stu

dy

of

chil

dp

ois

on

ing.

Th

est

ud

yfo

un

dth

at9

0%

of

the

11

8ro

den

tici

de

case

sin

vo

lved

chil

dre

nin

ges

tin

gd

isp

erse

dgra

nu

les

or

pel

lets

,n

ot

pac

kag

edro

den

tici

de.

Th

est

ud

yfo

un

dth

at9

0%

of

chil

dre

nac

cess

edth

ero

den

tici

de

atth

esi

tew

her

eit

was

laid

.In

20

%o

fca

ses

the

rod

enti

cid

ew

asac

cess

edfr

om

cup

bo

ard

san

dw

ard

rob

es.

Th

isin

dic

ates

that

pla

cin

gro

den

tici

des

inse

emin

gly

‘ou

to

fth

ew

ay’

pla

ces

isn

ot

anef

fect

ive

mea

ns

of

pre

ven

tin

gch

ild

acce

ss.

VIS

AR

reco

mm

end

edth

atal

lro

den

tici

des

sho

uld

be

dis

per

sed

inen

clo

sed

chil

dre

sist

ant

con

tain

ers

(bai

tst

atio

ns)

that

can

stil

lac

cess

edb

yro

den

ts,

tore

du

ceth

eli

kel

iho

od

of

chil

dp

ois

on

ing

and

the

qu

anti

tyo

fp

ois

on

that

can

be

acce

ssed

by

chil

dre

n.

Kid

safe

,th

eR

CH

Saf

ety

Cen

tre

and

oth

erb

od

ies

incl

ud

edin

form

atio

nfr

om

the

stu

dy

inad

vic

egiv

ento

par

ents

and

care

rs.

VICTORIAN INJURY SURVEILLANCE & APPLIED RESEARCH SYSTEM HAZARD 50 page 10

9 10 11

Ch

ild

po

iso

nin

g(4

):P

ara

ceta

mo

l(H

aza

rded

itio

ns

4,

19

89

;2

7,

19

96

;3

9;

19

99

;an

d4

7,

20

01

)

Par

acet

amo

lis

the

lead

ing

sin

gle

agen

tfo

rp

ois

on

ing

pre

sen

tati

on

san

dad

mis

sio

ns

toh

osp

ital

sin

yo

un

gch

ild

ren

(0-4

yea

rs).

In2

00

0,

VIS

AR

dat

ash

ow

edth

atp

arac

etam

ol

po

iso

nin

gac

cou

nte

dfo

r1

1%

of

all

po

iso

nin

gE

Dp

rese

nta

tio

ns

inch

ild

ren

aged

0-4

yea

rs.

Six

teen

per

cen

to

fth

ese

po

iso

nin

gca

ses

inyo

un

gch

ild

ren

wer

ead

mit

ted

toh

osp

ital

.

Inad

dit

ion

,p

arac

etam

ol

isth

eth

ird

hig

hes

tra

nked

agen

tfo

rad

ult

ED

pre

sen

tati

on

san

dh

osp

ital

adm

issi

on

sfo

rp

ois

on

ing.

Acc

ess

top

arac

etam

ol

by

yo

un

gch

ild

ren

was

det

erm

ined

thro

ugh

the

pre

vio

usl

ym

enti

on

edca

sese

ries

stu

dy.

Th

est

ud

yfo

un

dth

ato

ver

hal

f(5

4%

)o

fch

ild

par

acet

amo

lp

ois

on

ing

case

sin

vo

lved

the

liq

uid

form

.B

yco

ntr

ast,

adu

lto

ver

do

ses

wer

em

ore

likel

yto

be

asso

ciat

edw

ith

the

tab

let

form

.

Kid

safe

,th

eR

CH

Saf

ety

Cen

tre

and

oth

erb

od

ies

use

dth

efi

nd

ings

fro

mth

est

ud

yto

fram

eth

ead

vic

eth

eygiv

eto

par

ents

top

reven

tch

ild

acce

ssto

par

acet

amo

l.

VIS

AR

reco

mm

end

edfu

rth

erin

ves

tigat

ion

of

the

cru

stin

gw

hic

hfo

rms

aro

un

dth

ecl

osu

reo

fli

qu

idp

arac

etam

ol

pro

du

cts

and

oth

erm

edic

atio

ns

and

its

effe

cto

nth

eo

per

atio

no

fC

RC

s.O

ther

reco

mm

end

atio

ns

incl

ud

edp

laci

ng

are

stri

ctio

no

nth

eal

low

able

vo

lum

e/p

ack

size

of

par

acet

amo

lan

dli

mit

ing

the

sale

of

par

acet

amo

lp

rod

uct

sto

ph

arm

acie

s.

VIS

AR

also

favo

ure

dth

ead

dit

ion

of

anan

tid

ote

,m

eth

ion

ine

or

sim

ilar

,to

par

acet

amo

lto

red

uce

med

ical

inte

rven

tio

nan

dth

eco

sts

of

trea

tin

go

ver

do

ses.

Ho

wev

er,

con

cern

sh

ave

bee

nex

pre

ssed

abo

ut

the

po

ten

tial

sid

eef

fect

so

fm

eth

ion

ine

and

VIS

AR

no

wre

com

men

ds

that

furt

her

rese

arch

isn

eed

edin

toan

yp

ote

nti

alsi

de

effe

cts

of

met

hio

nin

eo

ral

tern

ativ

ean

tid

ote

sto

det

erm

inat

ion

ifth

ere

isa

safe

do

sage,

and

the

cost

s/b

enef

its

of

incl

ud

ing

anan

tid

ote

.

Ch

ild

po

iso

nin

gp

reven

tio

nis

iden

tifi

edas

ap

rio

rity

inn

atio

nal

and

Vic

tori

anIn

jury

Pre

ven

tio

nA

ctio

nP

lan

s.It

isal

soth

esu

bje

cto

fcu

rren

tM

UA

RC

rese

arch

,fu

nd

edb

yth

eV

icto

rian

Dep

artm

ent

of

Hu

man

Ser

vic

es(D

HS

).

Th

eT

her

apeu

tic

Go

od

sA

dm

inis

trat

ion

com

mis

sio

ned

are

vie

wo

fn

on

-pre

scri

pti

on

anal

ges

ics

in1

99

7.

Th

ere

po

rtre

com

men

ded

an

um

ber

of

TG

Ap

oli

cych

anges

wit

hre

spec

tto

rest

rict

ing

the

stre

ngth

and

vo

lum

eso

fu

nco

mp

ou

nd

edp

arac

etam

ol

ora

lli

qu

ids

on

the

Au

stra

lian

Reg

iste

ro

fT

her

apeu

tic

Go

od

s;th

em

ore

accu

rate

cali

bra

tio

no

fd

ose

so

nm

easu

rin

gsp

oo

ns

and

oth

erm

easu

res

toen

sure

corr

ect

do

sage;

the

rep

eal

of

the

Ord

erex

emp

tin

gd

rop

per

pac

ks

con

tain

ing

no

mo

reth

an2

go

fp

arac

etam

ol

fro

mh

avin

gC

RC

s;a

nu

mb

ero

fsp

ecif

icim

pro

vem

ents

tola

bel

lin

gan

dw

arn

ing

stat

emen

ts;

and

the

dev

elo

pm

ent

of

gu

idel

ines

on

par

acet

amo

lan

das

pir

in(N

ewgre

en,

19

98

).T

he

auth

or

reco

mm

end

edag

ain

stth

eco

mp

uls

ory

co-f

orm

ula

tio

no

fm

eth

ion

ine

wit

hp

arac

etam

ol

pre

par

atio

ns

(N

ewgre

en,

19

98

).

Sev

eral

of

the

reco

mm

end

atio

ns

cam

ein

toef

fect

ver

yq

uic

kly

incl

ud

ing

stan

dar

dis

ing

the

reco

mm

end

edd

ose

toch

ild

ren

and

fin

etu

nin

go

fla

bel

sw

ith

regar

dto

wei

gh

tan

dd

ose

tab

les.

Afo

llo

w-u

pre

vie

wis

inp

rogre

ssth

atai

ms

toex

amin

ere

cen

tp

ub

lish

edli

tera

ture

esp

ecia

lly

inre

lati

on

toB

riti

shin

itia

tives

inth

ear

eao

fla

bel

lin

g(p

erso

nal

com

mu

nic

atio

n,

Dav

idN

ewgre

en).

Ch

ild

po

iso

nin

g(5

):‘B

igp

ois

on

sfo

rli

ttle

per

son

s’b

roch

ure

In1

99

7M

UA

RC

dev

elo

ped

and

dis

sem

inat

eda

po

iso

nin

gp

reven

tio

ned

uca

tio

nb

roch

ure

for

par

ents

and

care

rsen

titl

ed‘B

igP

ois

on

sfo

rL

ittl

eP

eop

le’.

Th

eb

roch

ure

bas

edo

nre

sear

chb

yM

UA

RC

and

VIS

AR

,in

clu

ded

sum

mar

yst

atis

tics

on

par

acet

amo

l,eu

caly

ptu

so

ilan

dra

tb

ait

po

iso

nin

gan

dsa

fety

tip

sto

pre

ven

tch

ild

po

iso

nin

g.

VIS

AR

and

MU

AR

Cd

istr

ibu

ted

10

0,0

00

bro

chu

res

toth

eta

rget

aud

ien

ce-

par

ents

,ca

rers

and

chil

dh

ealt

hp

rofe

ssio

nal

s.

Ch

ild

po

iso

nin

g(6

):P

ois

on

ing

by

‘ove

r-th

e-co

un

ter’

med

ica

tio

ns

In2

00

1V

ISA

Rw

ork

edco

llab

ora

tivel

yw

ith

the

Vic

tori

anC

oll

ege

of

Ph

arm

acy

toin

ves

tigat

eu

nin

ten

tio

nal

chil

dh

oo

dp

ois

on

ing

(in

0-4

yea

ro

lds)

that

isas

soci

ated

wit

ho

ver

-th

e-co

un

ter

(OT

C)

med

icat

ion

s.T

his

inves

tigat

ion

fou

nd

that

75

%o

fth

ech

ild

po

iso

nin

gca

ses

(in

wh

ich

the

med

icat

ion

invo

lved

was

iden

tifi

ed)

invo

lved

OT

Cm

edic

atio

ns.

OT

Cm

edic

atio

np

ois

on

ing

pea

ked

intw

oyea

r-o

lds.

On

e-q

uar

ter

of

inci

den

tsre

qu

ired

ho

spit

alis

atio

n.

Th

ere

po

rtre

com

men

ded

rest

rict

ing

the

sale

of

toxic

OT

Cm

edic

atio

ns

top

har

mac

ies,

imp

roved

cou

nse

llin

go

fp

aren

tsan

dca

rers

abo

ut

the

risk

so

fch

ild

po

iso

nin

gb

yO

TC

med

icat

ion

s,an

da

revie

wo

fch

ild

resi

stan

tcl

osu

reap

pli

cati

on

and

des

ign

.

Th

isco

llab

ora

tive

wo

rkh

asm

ade

asi

gn

ific

ant

con

trib

uti

on

ina

pre

vio

usl

yu

nd

er-i

nves

tigat

edar

eao

fch

ild

ho

od

po

iso

nin

g.

Th

efi

nd

ings

fro

mth

ere

sear

chh

ave

bee

np

rese

nte

dat

anin

tern

atio

nal

con

fere

nce

and

anar

ticl

eh

asb

een

sub

mit

ted

toa

pee

r-re

vie

wed

jou

rnal

.

VICTORIAN INJURY SURVEILLANCE & APPLIED RESEARCH SYSTEM HAZARD 50 page 11

141312A

CH

IEV

EM

EN

TS

ININ

JU

RY

PR

EV

EN

TIO

NIN

SP

EC

IFIC

SE

TT

ING

S

(1)

Sp

ort

an

dact

ive

recr

eati

on

rela

ted

inju

ry

Mic

ro-s

coo

ters

(Ha

zard

44

,2

00

0)

Inm

id-2

00

0V

ISA

Rn

ote

dth

ep

roli

fera

tio

no

fth

en

ew“R

azo

r”m

icro

-sco

ote

rsan

dse

arch

edth

eV

EM

Dd

ata

for

asso

ciat

edin

juri

es.

Pro

ject

ion

sm

ade

atth

atti

me

ind

icat

edth

atw

eco

uld

exp

ect

32

7p

rese

nta

tio

ns

toh

osp

ital

ED

sfo

rsc

oo

ter

inju

ries

inV

icto

ria

over

the

full

12

-mo

nth

per

iod

.T

he

VIS

AR

pre

dic

tio

nw

asac

cura

teto

wit

hin

on

eca

se.

VIS

AR

un

der

too

ka

lett

erw

riti

ng

cam

pai

gn

aler

tin

gvar

iou

sS

tate

and

Fed

eral

Min

iste

rso

fT

ran

spo

rtan

dM

inis

ters

of

Co

nsu

mer

Aff

airs

acro

ssA

ust

rali

ao

fth

ep

roje

cted

epid

emic

of

sco

ote

r-re

late

din

juri

es.

Sim

ult

aneo

usl

y,

VIS

AR

pro

vid

edvar

iou

sjo

urn

alis

tsan

do

ther

inju

ryp

reven

tio

no

rgan

isat

ion

sw

ith

dat

ao

nsc

oo

ter

inju

ries

toch

ild

ren

.V

ISA

Rst

aff

mem

ber

sw

ere

invo

lved

inn

ewsp

aper

s,ra

dio

,an

dT

Vin

terv

iew

s.

An

um

ber

of

reta

iler

sac

ted

on

the

safe

tym

essa

ges

pro

mo

ted

by

VIS

AR

and

oth

erag

enci

essu

chas

Kid

safe

and

incl

ud

edp

rom

oti

on

of

pro

tect

ive

equ

ipm

ent,

such

ash

elm

ets,

inth

eir

adver

tisi

ng.

Man

ygo

ver

nm

ent

Min

iste

rsan

dO

pp

osi

tio

nS

had

ow

Min

iste

rsre

spo

nd

edto

the

lett

erca

mp

aign

,in

clu

din

gth

eD

epu

tyP

rim

eM

inis

ter

and

the

Sh

ado

wM

inis

ter

for

Reg

ion

alD

evel

op

men

t,In

fras

tru

ctu

re,

Tra

nsp

ort

,R

egio

nal

Ser

vic

esan

dP

op

ula

tio

n.

Th

eA

ust

rali

anT

ran

spo

rtC

ou

nci

l(A

TC

),u

nd

erth

ed

irec

tio

no

fth

eD

epu

tyP

rim

eM

inis

ter,

issu

edm

edia

stat

emen

tsw

arn

ing

par

ents

of

the

dan

ger

so

fsc

oo

ters

and

rem

ind

ing

them

that

legis

lati

on

req

uir

edth

atch

ild

ren

over

12

yea

rso

fag

em

ust

wea

rh

elm

ets

wh

enri

din

gsc

oo

ters

.T

he

AT

Cag

reed

toex

amin

ep

oss

ibil

itie

sfo

rn

atio

nal

legis

lati

on

on

sco

ote

rsa

fety

.

Th

ese

med

iast

atem

ents

and

oth

ers

fro

mvar

iou

sS

tate

min

iste

rsre

ceiv

edm

edia

cover

age,

asd

idin

jury

inci

den

tsin

vo

lvin

gch

ild

ren

.

An

ecd

ota

lev

iden

cesu

gges

tsth

atsi

nce

the

end

of

20

00

mic

ro-

sco

ote

rsa

les

hav

ed

ecre

ased

,w

ith

aco

nco

mit

ant

slo

win

gin

the

gro

wth

of

sco

ote

rin

juri

es.

Th

rou

gh

ou

t2

00

0,

VE

MD

dat

ash

ow

edth

atin

juri

esw

ere

incr

easi

ng

by

20

%ea

chm

on

tho

nth

ep

revio

us

mo

nth

.T

hro

ugh

20

01

,sc

oo

ter

inju

ries

gre

wb

yo

nly

7%

per

mo

nth

.It

isp

oss

ible

that

the

rece

nt

red

uct

ion

insc

oo

ter

inju

ries

sign

als

that

sco

ote

rri

din

gis

ap

assi

ng

fad

.H

ow

ever

,th

eac

tive

cam

pai

gn

VIS

AR

un

der

too

kin

par

tner

ship

wit

hgo

ver

nm

ent

min

iste

rsan

dth

em

edia

pro

bab

lyp

layed

aro

le.

Bic

ycle

hel

met

s(H

aza

rded

itio

ns

2,

19

88

;6

,1

99

0;

7&

8,

19

91

;1

0,

19

92

;3

1,

19

97

;3

4,

19

98

;an

d4

4,

20

00

).

Fro

mJu

ly1

19

90

all

Vic

tori

anb

icycl

ists

wer

ere

qu

ired

by

law

tow

ear

anap

pro

ved

hel

met

.

AB

Sd

ata

sho

ws

15

2d

eath

so

fb

icycl

ists

on

Vic

tori

anp

ub

lic

road

sin

the

10

-yea

rp

erio

d1

98

7to

19

96

.O

ver

the

dec

ade,

the

dea

thra

tera

nged

bet

wee

n0

.6p

er1

00

,00

0an

d0

.2p

er1

00

,00

0.

Bic

ycl

e-re

late

dd

eath

rate

so

np

ub

lic

road

sd

rop

ped

sub

stan

tial

lyin

the

two

yea

rsaf

ter

hel

met

legis

lati

on

cam

ein

tofo

rce.

Bic

ycl

e-re

late

dh

osp

ital

adm

issi

on

sw

ere

dec

reas

ing

pri

or

toth

em

and

ato

ryh

elm

etw

eari

ng

legis

lati

on

(pro

bab

lyre

flec

tin

gth

ein

crea

sein

vo

lun

tary

hel

met

wea

rin

g).

Ad

mis

sio

nra

tes

afte

r1

99

0re

mai

nlo

wer

than

rate

sin

the

pre

-co

mp

uls

ory

hel

met

-w

eari

ng

era.

VIS

AR

has

revie

wed

inju

ryto

bic

ycl

ists

ina

nu

mb

ero

fed

itio

ns

of

Ha

zard

pro

vid

ing

up

dat

eso

nB

MX

inju

ries

,fa

lls

fro

mb

icycl

esan

dh

ead

inju

ryto

cycl

ists

.

Th

e6

thed

itio

no

fH

aza

rdin

clu

ded

anan

alysi

so

fV

icto

rian

dat

ath

atsh

ow

eda

mar

ked

dec

reas

ein

the

pro

po

rtio

no

fcy

clis

tsw

ith

hea

din

juri

esaf

ter

the

intr

od

uct

ion

of

com

pu

lso

ryh

elm

etw

eari

ng

legis

lati

on

.T

his

was

the

firs

tin

tern

atio

nal

rep

ort

of

har

dev

iden

cesu

pp

ort

ing

the

effe

ctiv

enes

so

fco

mp

uls

ory

bic

ycl

eh

elm

etle

gis

lati

on

and

was

use

dto

assi

stth

ein

tro

du

ctio

no

fsi

mil

arle

gis

lati

on

ino

ther

Au

stra

lian

stat

esan

dco

un

trie

s.V

AE

Dh

osp

ital

adm

issi

on

sd

ata

ind

icat

eth

atin

19

89

(th

ep

re-

legis

lati

on

yea

r)in

trac

ran

ial

inju

ries

com

pri

sed

28

%o

fal

l-ag

eb

icycl

e-re

late

dad

mis

sio

ns

wh

erea

sin

19

99

the

pro

po

rtio

no

fin

trac

ran

ial

inju

ries

dec

lin

edto

19

%.

Ho

wev

er,

cau

tio

nsh

ou

ldb

eex

erci

sed

inat

trib

uti

ng

this

dec

reas

eto

hel

met

wea

rin

gal

on

e(C

arr

etal

.,1

99

7).

Fu

rth

erex

po

sure

stu

die

sar

en

eed

edto

det

erm

ine

curr

ent

hel

met

wea

rin

gra

tes

inV

icto

ria.

Tra

mp

oli

nes

(Ha

zard

edit

ion

s1

3,

19

92

;4

2&

44

,2

00

0;

and

48

,2

00

1)

VIS

AR

ED

dat

afo

rth

e7

-yea

rp

erio

d1

99

5-2

00

1in

dic

ate

that

ther

ew

ere

atle

ast

2,5

85

tram

po

lin

e-re

late

din

juri

esto

chil

dre

n,

36

9ca

ses

per

yea

r.

Over

thre

e-q

uar

ters

(78

%)

of

chil

dtr

amp

oli

ne

inju

ries

occ

ur

inth

eh

om

e.T

he

mo

stco

mm

on

mec

han

ism

of

tram

po

lin

ein

jury

isfa

lls

(73

%).

Fra

ctu

res

(39

%)

and

spra

ins/

stra

ins

(23

%)

are

the

mo

stco

mm

on

typ

eso

fin

jury

.T

he

mo

stco

mm

on

site

so

fin

jury

are

the

up

per

lim

b(4

3%

,m

ost

lyel

bo

w,

fore

arm

and

wri

stin

juri

es),

low

erli

mb

(22

%,

mo

stly

ankle

and

low

erle

g)

and

hea

d/f

ace

(15

.5%

).S

even

teen

per

cen

to

fp

rese

nta

tio

ns

are

adm

itte

dto

ho

spit

al.

VIS

AR

has

mo

nit

ore

dtr

amp

oli

ne

inju

ryfo

ra

dec

ade,

firs

tre

po

rtin

gd

ata

inH

aza

rded

itio

n1

3.

Mo

rere

cen

tly,

VIS

AR

sup

pli

edd

ata

toa

revie

wo

ftr

amp

oli

ne

inju

ryb

yM

UA

RC

that

was

fun

ded

by

the

DH

S(V

icto

ria)

and

DH

AC

(Mu

rph

y,

20

00

).T

he

revie

wm

ade

the

case

for

anA

ust

rali

anS

tan

dar

d.

Alt

ho

ugh

ther

eh

ave

bee

nca

lls

for

ab

ano

nth

esa

leo

ftr

amp

oli

nes

for

recr

eati

on

alu

se,

the

MU

AR

Cre

vie

wp

rop

ose

dth

ed

evel

op

men

to

fa

vo

lun

tary

Au

stra

lian

Sta

nd

ard

tofa

cili

tate

the

ado

pti

on

of

the

des

ign

,b

ehav

iou

ral

and

envir

on

men

tal

chan

ges

that

are

req

uir

edto

red

uce

tram

po

lin

ein

jury

.

Fo

llo

win

gst

ron

gad

vo

cacy

fro

mM

UA

RC

,V

ISA

R,

the

Qu

een

slan

dM

inis

ter

for

Fai

rT

rad

ing

and

oth

erkey

stak

eho

lder

sin

clu

din

gtr

amp

oli

ne

man

ufa

ctu

rers

,S

tan

dar

ds

Au

stra

lia

init

iate

dth

ed

evel

op

men

to

fa

Sta

nd

ard

for

tram

po

lin

es(D

R0

13

48

)in

20

01

.A

VIS

AR

staf

fm

emb

erse

rves

on

the

Sta

nd

ard

sC

om

mit

tee.

Th

eo

bje

ctiv

eo

fth

eS

tan

dar

dis

tom

inim

ise

the

risk

asso

ciat

edw

ith

the

use

of

tram

po

lin

esb

yes

tab

lish

ing

pro

ced

ure

sfo

ras

sem

bly

and

inst

alla

tio

n,

spec

ifyin

gd

esig

ncr

iter

iao

fco

mp

on

ents

,an

des

tab

lish

ing

req

uir

emen

tsfo

rla

bel

lin

gan

dp

rovis

ion

of

safe

tyin

form

atio

n.

Th

ed

raft

Sta

nd

ard

iscu

rren

tly

on

rele

ase

for

pu

bli

cco

mm

ent.

VICTORIAN INJURY SURVEILLANCE & APPLIED RESEARCH SYSTEM HAZARD 50 page 12

171615P

layg

rou

nd

fall

s(H

aza

rded

itio

ns

3,

19

89

;1

0,

19

92

;1

4&

16

,1

99

3;

25

,1

99

5;

29

,1

99

6;

44

,2

00

0;

and

48

,2

00

1)

Pla

ygro

un

d-r

elat

edin

juri

esar

eco

mm

on

and

seri

ou

sch

ild

ho

od

even

ts.

Th

eyre

pre

sen

tap

pro

xim

atel

y6

%o

fal

lch

ild

ho

od

inju

ries

inV

icto

ria.

Pla

ygro

un

deq

uip

men

t-re

late

din

juri

esac

cou

nt

for

over

3,0

00

pre

sen

tati

on

sto

ho

spit

alE

Ds

ann

ual

lyin

Vic

tori

a,w

ith

22

%o

fp

rese

nta

tio

ns

adm

itte

dto

ho

spit

al.

Th

eav

erag

ean

nu

alad

mis

sio

nra

tefo

rfa

lls

fro

mp

laygro

un

deq

uip

men

tis

11

4/1

00

,00

0ch

ild

ren

inV

icto

ria.

Th

e1

2-y

ear

tren

d(1

98

7/8

to1

99

8/9

)in

ho

spit

alis

edp

laygro

un

dfa

lls

amo

ng

chil

dre

nin

Vic

tori

ah

assh

ow

na

stat

isti

call

ysi

gn

ific

ant

incr

ease

for

all

pla

ygro

un

deq

uip

men

tfa

lls,

and

arm

frac

ture

s.

Th

ep

eak

age

for

ho

spit

alis

atio

nis

5-9

yea

rsan

d5

6%

of

inju

red

chil

dre

nar

em

ale.

Th

em

ajo

rm

ech

anis

mo

fin

jury

isa

fall

fro

mp

laygro

un

deq

uip

men

t.U

pp

erli

mb

frac

ture

sac

cou

nt

for

74

%o

fh

osp

ital

adm

issi

on

s.

Eig

ht

edit

ion

so

fH

aza

rd,

nu

mer

ou

sV

ISA

Rin

form

atio

nre

qu

ests

and

sign

ific

ant

wo

rkb

yM

UA

RC

hav

eb

een

ded

icat

edto

the

issu

eo

fp

laygro

un

dfa

lls.

Stu

die

sb

yV

ISA

R/M

UA

RC

and

oth

ergro

up

sh

ave

iden

tifi

edth

ep

rim

ary

risk

fact

ors

for

pla

ygro

un

din

jury

.T

hey

incl

ud

eth

eh

eigh

to

fth

eeq

uip

men

tfr

om

wh

ich

the

chil

dfa

lls

and

the

char

acte

rist

ics

of

surf

acin

go

nto

wh

ich

they

lan

d.

Acu

rren

tN

H&

MR

C-f

un

ded

MU

AR

Cst

ud

yis

add

ress

ing

the

spec

ific

risk

and

pro

tect

ive

fact

ors

for

arm

frac

ture

,th

em

ost

com

mo

np

laygro

un

dfa

llin

jury

.

Par

tso

fth

eA

ust

rali

anS

tan

dar

do

np

laygro

un

deq

uip

men

t(A

S1

92

4.2

–1

98

1)

are

inth

ep

roce

sso

fre

vis

ion

.T

he

sect

ion

su

nd

erre

vis

ion

cover

safe

tyre

qu

irem

ents

for

rock

ing

equ

ipm

ent

(DR

02

34

0),

swin

gs

(DR

02

34

5),

slid

es(D

R0

23

46

),ru

nw

ays

(DR

02

34

7)

and

caro

use

ls(D

R0

23

48

).T

he

Dra

ft,

bas

edo

nth

eE

uro

pea

nS

tan

dar

d,

bu

tw

ith

exis

tin

gA

ust

rali

anh

eigh

tli

mit

s,is

op

enfo

rp

ub

lic

com

men

tu

nti

lA

ugu

st2

00

2.

Th

ere

sult

so

fcu

rren

tM

UA

RC

rese

arch

may

pro

mp

tfu

rth

erre

vis

ion

s.

MU

AR

Ch

asso

ugh

tfu

nd

ing

toco

nti

nu

eit

sp

rogra

mo

fre

sear

chin

top

laygro

un

dfa

llin

juri

esto

info

rmin

tern

atio

nal

stan

dar

ds

and

gu

idel

ines

.

Pla

ygro

un

dfa

lls:

stu

dy

on

risk

fact

ors

for

arm

fra

ctu

re

Pu

bli

ch

ealt

hre

sear

chin

pla

ygro

un

din

jury

has

focu

sed

alm

ost

excl

usi

vel

yo

nep

idem

iolo

gic

alm

eth

od

s.F

ewst

ud

ies

hav

eap

pli

edm

ult

i-d

isci

pli

nar

ym

eth

od

sto

inju

ryp

reven

tio

n,

com

bin

ing

bio

mec

han

ics,

med

icin

ean

dep

idem

iolo

gy.

Alt

ho

ugh

ther

ear

eso

me

des

crip

tio

ns

of

the

clin

ical

asp

ects

of

arm

frac

ture

,n

on

eh

asli

nked

the

inju

ryo

utc

om

eto

the

bio

mec

han

ics

of

the

cau

se.

Th

isin

form

atio

nco

uld

be

use

dto

det

erm

ine

the

mec

han

ism

of

inju

ryan

dfu

rth

ergu

ide

pre

ven

tio

nst

rate

gie

s.

Th

eai

mo

fth

ecu

rren

tM

UA

RC

pla

ygro

un

dfa

lls

stu

dy

isto

furt

her

inves

tigat

eth

ero

leo

ffa

llh

eigh

tan

dp

laygro

un

dsu

rfac

eim

pac

tin

arm

frac

ture

.T

od

ate,

over

43

0ch

ild

ren

hav

eb

een

incl

ud

edin

the

case

con

tro

lst

ud

y.

Fin

din

gs

fro

mth

est

ud

yw

ill

be

avai

lab

leat

the

end

of

20

02

.

Pre

lim

inar

yre

sult

sp

rese

nte

dto

the

6th

Wo

rld

Co

nfe

ren

ceo

nIn

jury

Pre

ven

tio

nan

dC

on

tro

l(h

eld

inM

on

trea

lin

May

20

02

)h

ave

imp

ort

ant

imp

lica

tio

ns

for

som

eas

pec

tso

fA

ust

rali

anan

din

tern

atio

nal

stan

dar

ds

and

wil

lb

ep

ub

lish

edsh

ort

ly.

Ex

erci

seb

ikes

(cyc

les)

(Ha

zard

edit

ion

s5

,1

99

0an

d9

,1

99

1)

Th

egro

wth

of

acu

ltu

reo

fh

ealt

han

dfi

tnes

sin

Au

stra

lian

soci

ety

has

resu

lted

inin

crea

sed

pu

rch

ase

and

use

of

ho

me

exer

cise

equ

ipm

ent.

Th

esa

fety

of

chil

dre

nis

no

tal

way

sco

nsi

der

edw

hen

this

equ

ipm

ent

isd

esig

ned

.

VIS

AR

dat

afo

r1

99

5-2

00

1in

dic

ate

that

ther

ew

ere

atle

ast

14

0ex

erci

secy

cle-

rela

ted

ED

pre

sen

tati

on

so

ver

the

7-y

ear

per

iod

.E

igh

ty-t

wo

per

cen

to

fca

ses

wer

ech

ild

ren

aged

0-1

4yea

rs[c

hil

dre

nag

ed0

-4yea

rs(4

2%

),5

-9yea

rs(2

9%

)an

d1

0-1

4yea

rs(1

1%

)].

Inju

ries

toch

ild

ren

incl

ud

edo

pen

wo

un

ds

(44

%),

sup

erfi

cial

inju

ries

(11

%),

frac

ture

s(1

2%

),sp

rain

san

dst

rain

s(7

%)

and

trau

mat

icam

pu

tati

on

s(8

%).

Ap

pro

xim

atel

yo

ne

thir

do

fch

ild

exer

cise

cycl

ein

juri

esw

ere

toth

efo

ot,

incl

ud

ing

toes

(33

%)

and

afu

rth

ero

ne-

thir

dto

the

han

din

clu

din

gfi

nger

s(3

2%

).T

he

maj

or

mec

han

ism

so

fch

ild

inju

ries

wer

ecu

ttin

g/p

ierc

ing

(19

%),

stru

ckb

y/c

oll

isio

nw

ith

(14

%)

and

fall

s(1

4%

).T

he

ho

spit

alad

mis

sio

nra

tefo

rch

ild

ren

was

hig

h(2

4%

),in

dic

atin

gth

ese

ver

ity

of

exer

cise

cycl

e-re

late

din

jury

inch

ild

ren

.

VIS

AR

hig

hli

gh

ted

the

dan

ger

so

fex

erci

seb

ikes

inH

aza

rd5

and

inth

eM

edic

al

Jou

rna

lo

fA

ust

rali

a(P

erks,

etal

.,1

99

1).

Th

eM

JAar

ticl

ere

po

rted

on

are

tro

spec

tive

stu

dy

of

VIS

AR

and

clin

ical

reco

rds

on

18

chil

dre

nw

ith

fin

ger

inju

ries

fro

mex

erci

seb

icycl

es.

Alm

ost

90

%o

fth

ein

jure

dch

ild

ren

wer

eag

edu

nd

erfi

ve

yea

rs,

10

wer

eag

edle

ssth

antw

oyea

rs.

Fiv

eti

mes

asm

any

bo

ys

asgir

lsw

ere

inju

red

.

Iden

tifi

edd

esig

nh

azar

ds

incl

ud

edth

ew

hee

l,th

ech

ain

,th

esp

rock

etw

hee

lan

den

trap

men

to

ffi

nger

so

rfe

etin

the

wh

eel

spo

kes

.R

eco

mm

end

atio

ns

for

inju

ryp

reven

tio

nin

clu

ded

des

ign

mo

dif

icat

ion

san

ded

uca

tio

no

fp

aren

tsab

ou

tth

eri

sks

for

chil

dre

np

layin

gn

ear

exer

cise

bik

es.

Fo

llo

win

gth

ep

ub

lica

tio

no

fth

eM

JAar

ticl

eth

eF

eder

alM

inis

ter

for

Just

ice

and

Co

nsu

mer

Aff

airs

issu

eda

nat

ion

alm

edia

rele

ase

that

war

ned

par

ents

of

the

dan

ger

sas

soci

ated

wit

hex

erci

seb

icycl

es.

Th

eM

inis

ter

wen

tfu

rth

erb

yis

suin

ga

wa

rnin

gn

oti

ce

ab

ou

tp

oss

ible

ha

zard

ou

sg

oo

ds

(Co

nsu

mer

Pro

tect

ion

No

tice

No

.18

of

19

91

)u

nd

erth

eT

rad

eP

ract

ices

Act

19

74

,d

escr

ibin

gp

oss

ible

risk

so

ffi

nger

and

lim

ben

trap

men

tin

juri

esca

use

db

yu

ngu

ard

edsp

rock

ets,

chai

ns

and

spo

ked

wh

eels

of

ho

me

exer

cise

bik

es.

Th

esa

fety

cam

pai

gn

con

tin

ued

wit

hth

ere

leas

eo

fth

eIn

jury

Su

rvei

llan

ceB

ull

etin

(No

s.3

7&

38

,S

ept

–O

ct1

99

1)

fro

mth

eS

ou

thA

ust

rali

anH

ealt

hC

om

mis

sio

nth

atca

lled

for

anA

ust

rali

anst

and

ard

for

exer

cise

cycl

es.

AS

tan

dar

dfo

rex

erci

secy

cles

ind

om

esti

cu

se(A

S4

09

2-1

99

3),

wh

ich

spec

ifie

sis

ola

tio

ngu

ard

ing

for

mo

vin

gp

arts

and

oth

ersa

fety

req

uir

emen

ts,

was

sub

seq

uen

tly

dev

elo

ped

and

rele

ased

in1

99

3.

Itw

asgaz

ette

das

am

and

ato

ryS

tan

dar

du

nd

erth

eT

rad

eP

ract

ices

Act

in1

99

7.

VICTORIAN INJURY SURVEILLANCE & APPLIED RESEARCH SYSTEM HAZARD 50 page 13

201918In

-lin

esk

ati

ng

(Ha

zard

edit

ion

s1

5,

19

93

;3

1,

19

97

;4

4,

20

00

)

VIS

AR

dat

ash

ow

that

the

nu

mb

ero

fE

Dp

rese

nta

tio

ns

for

in-

lin

esk

atin

g(r

oll

erb

lad

ing)

inju

ryh

asin

crea

sed

mar

ked

lysi

nce

19

90

wh

enth

efi

rst

ED

pre

sen

tati

on

sw

ere

reco

rded

.In

the

late

st3

-yea

rp

erio

d(1

99

9-2

00

1),

96

5E

Dp

rese

nta

tio

ns

wer

ere

cord

ed,

anav

erag

eo

f3

22

per

yea

r.

On

e-h

alf

of

thes

ep

rese

nta

tio

ns

wer

efo

rfr

actu

res

toth

efo

rear

man

dw

rist

.R

esea

rch

has

sho

wn

that

the

no

n-u

seo

fw

rist

gu

ard

sac

cou

nts

for

87

%o

fal

lw

rist

inju

ries

inin

-lin

esk

atin

g(S

chie

ber

etal

.,1

99

6).

In1

99

8M

UA

RC

un

der

too

kan

ob

serv

atio

nal

stu

dy

tod

eter

min

elo

cal

Per

son

alP

rote

ctiv

eE

qu

ipm

ent

(PP

E)

use

atfo

ur

dif

fere

nt

skat

ese

ttin

gs,

and

toco

mp

are

loca

lre

sult

sw

ith

rep

ort

edin

tern

atio

nal

rate

so

fP

PE

use

(Sh

erker

&C

asse

ll,

20

01

).

Tw

oth

ird

so

fth

e4

90

ob

serv

edin

-lin

esk

ater

sw

ore

no

ne

of

the

reco

mm

end

edP

PE

(wri

stgu

ard

s,el

bo

wan

dkn

eep

ads

and

hel

met

s)an

do

nly

2%

wo

real

lfo

ur

pie

ces

of

PP

E.

Wri

stgu

ard

sw

ere

wo

rnb

yo

nly

26

%o

fsk

ater

s,kn

eep

ads

by

24

%,

elb

ow

pad

sb

y7

%an

dh

elm

ets

by

6%

.A

dd

itio

nal

fin

din

gs

ind

icat

eth

atyo

un

ger

skat

ers

are

leas

tli

kel

yto

wea

ran

yP

PE

,tr

ail

skat

ers

are

mo

reli

kel

yto

wea

rP

PE

than

skat

ers

ato

ther

loca

tio

ns,

and

the

use

of

PP

Eis

infl

uen

ced

by

gro

up

no

rms.

Th

eM

UA

RC

stu

dy

con

clu

ded

that

PP

Eu

seam

on

gin

-lin

esk

ater

sin

Vic

tori

ais

low

erth

anth

atre

po

rted

over

seas

.

Th

ese

fin

din

gs

hig

hli

gh

tth

en

eed

tob

ette

rp

rom

ote

the

use

of

wri

stgu

ard

s,el

bo

wan

dkn

eep

ads

and

hel

met

sto

skat

ers

of

all

ages

and

abil

itie

s.

VIS

AR

wil

lco

nti

nu

eto

mo

nit

or

and

rep

ort

on

inju

ries

asso

ciat

edw

ith

in-l

ine

skat

ing

and

wil

lse

eko

pp

ort

un

itie

sto

wo

rkin

par

tner

ship

wit

hin

-lin

esk

atin

gb

od

ies,

org

anis

ers

and

spo

nso

rso

fsk

atin

gev

ents

,sk

atin

gven

ue

ow

ner

san

dm

anag

ers,

skat

ing

equ

ipm

ent

man

ufa

ctu

rers

and

hir

ers

top

rom

ote

PP

Eu

sean

dre

du

cein

juri

esas

soci

ated

wit

hin

-lin

esk

atin

g.

MU

AR

Can

dth

eR

oyal

Ch

ild

ren

’sH

osp

ital

(Cen

tre

for

Ad

ole

scen

tH

ealt

h)

are

pla

nn

ing

ast

ud

yto

det

erm

ine

the

bar

rier

san

dfa

cili

tato

rsto

the

up

take

and

use

of

wri

st-g

uar

ds

by

chil

dan

dad

ole

scen

tsk

ater

s.

Wri

stg

ua

rds:

do

they

imp

air

wri

stfu

ncti

on

?

(VIS

AR

ap

pli

ed

rese

arc

hp

roje

ct)

Wri

stgu

ard

sar

ean

effe

ctiv

eit

emo

fp

rote

ctiv

eeq

uip

men

td

esig

ned

top

rote

ctag

ain

stw

rist

inju

ry,

par

ticu

larl

yfr

actu

re,

inth

eev

ent

of

afa

llo

nto

ano

uts

tret

ched

han

d.

Th

eyar

ere

com

men

ded

for

use

by

in-l

ine

skat

ers

and

sno

wb

oar

der

sb

ecau

sefa

lls

on

toan

ou

tstr

etch

edar

mar

eth

em

ost

com

mo

nin

jury

mec

han

ism

inth

ese

recr

eati

on

alac

tivit

ies.

VIS

AR

rep

ort

eda

15

-fo

ldin

crea

sein

mic

ro-s

coo

ter

inju

ryam

on

gV

icto

rian

chil

dre

nin

the

yea

r2

00

0(S

tokes

&C

orb

o,

20

01

).A

lth

ou

gh

the

pat

tern

and

mec

han

ism

of

fall

inju

ryin

sco

ote

rri

der

sis

sim

ilar

toth

atse

enin

in-l

ine

skat

ers,

we

are

un

sure

wh

eth

erw

rist

gu

ard

sar

ean

app

rop

riat

eco

un

term

easu

reto

inju

ryb

ecau

seth

eym

ayin

terf

ere

wit

hgri

pan

dsc

oo

ter

con

tro

l.

Sco

ote

rri

der

sn

eed

tose

cure

lygri

pth

eh

and

leb

ars

toco

ntr

ol

the

dev

ice

and

wri

stgu

ard

sm

ayin

terf

ere

wit

hgri

pan

dh

and

/fin

ger

dex

teri

ty.

Th

ere

isn

ocu

rren

tev

iden

ceo

fth

eef

fica

cyo

fw

rist

gu

ard

sin

recr

eati

on

alac

tivit

ies

that

dem

and

go

od

gri

pst

ren

gth

and

dex

tero

us

use

of

the

wri

stto

gri

ph

and

leb

ars,

rack

ets

or

stic

ks.

VIS

AR

isco

nd

uct

ing

anex

per

imen

tal

wri

stgu

ard

stu

dy

that

aim

sto

asse

ssth

eef

fect

of

wri

stgu

ard

so

ngri

pst

ren

gth

and

dex

teri

tyu

nd

era

var

iety

of

per

form

ance

con

dit

ion

s.T

he

stu

dy

wil

lin

vo

lve

asa

mp

leo

fch

ild

ren

and

adu

lts.

Itis

envis

aged

that

the

fin

din

gs

wil

lin

form

pre

ven

tio

nst

rate

gie

s,an

dcl

arif

yw

het

her

des

ign

mo

dif

icat

ion

sto

wri

stgu

ard

sar

ere

qu

ired

.

Bo

xin

g

InV

icto

ria

ther

eh

ave

bee

ntw

ob

oxin

g-r

elat

edd

eath

sin

the

pas

t1

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rsfr

om

mo

reth

an4

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rofe

ssio

nal

figh

ts(S

cott

etal

.,2

00

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AR

dat

ain

dic

ates

that

ther

ew

ere

atle

ast

10

2b

oxin

g-r

elat

edE

Dp

rese

nta

tio

ns

inth

e5

-yea

rp

erio

d1

99

6-2

00

0.

Th

em

ost

com

mo

nin

juri

esw

ere

frac

ture

s(3

6%

)an

dsp

rain

san

dst

rain

s(2

3%

).T

he

mo

stfr

equ

entl

yin

jure

db

od

ysi

tes

wer

eth

eu

pp

erex

trem

ity

(46

%,

mo

stly

toth

eh

and

,fi

nger

san

dw

rist

)an

dth

eh

ead

&fa

ce(3

2%

,m

ost

lyla

cera

tio

ns)

.S

even

per

cen

to

fp

rese

nta

tio

ns

wer

ead

mit

ted

toh

osp

ital

.T

he

mo

stco

mm

on

mec

han

ism

of

inju

ryw

asst

rikin

go

rb

ein

gst

ruck

by

ap

erso

n.

Th

ere

isgo

od

evid

ence

that

rep

eate

db

rain

inju

ryca

use

sch

ron

icb

rain

dam

age.

Ho

wev

er,

the

risk

fact

ors

for

chro

nic

trau

mat

icb

rain

inju

ryin

bo

xer

sh

ave

no

tb

een

con

clu

sivel

yes

tab

lish

ed.

In2

00

1V

ISA

Rp

rovid

edd

ata

on

bo

xin

gin

juri

esfo

ra

MU

AR

C/D

eakin

Un

iver

sity

stu

dy

‘Co

un

tin

gin

juri

eso

ut

of

bo

xin

g’

(Sco

ttet

al.,

20

01).

Th

eV

icto

rian

Min

iste

rfo

rS

po

rts

and

Rec

reat

ion

com

mis

sio

ned

the

revie

wo

nb

ehal

fo

f,an

din

asso

ciat

ion

wit

h,

the

Sp

ort

and

Rec

reat

ion

Min

iste

rs’

Co

un

cil

Sta

nd

ing

Co

mm

itte

eo

nR

ecre

atio

nan

dS

po

rt.

VIS

AR

ho

spit

alE

Dp

rese

nta

tio

ns

dat

a(s

up

ple

men

ted

by

dat

afr

om

Qu

een

slan

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UK

and

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eth

erla

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ere

use

dto

pro

vid

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over

vie

wo

fin

juri

esin

bo

xin

gan

din

form

reco

mm

end

atio

ns

for

pre

ven

tio

n.

Rec

om

men

dat

ion

sfr

om

the

rep

ort

are

curr

entl

yu

nd

erco

nsi

der

atio

nb

yre

levan

tgo

ver

nm

ent

dep

artm

ents

.

VICTORIAN INJURY SURVEILLANCE & APPLIED RESEARCH SYSTEM HAZARD 50 page 14

2221S

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teg

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on

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igh

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VIS

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spo

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eu

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pat

tern

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form

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atio

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tore

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cein

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and

acti

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recr

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inth

eA

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Bo

thth

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MU

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rto

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web

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oti

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evid

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efo

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jury

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nte

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tori

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po

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ve

recr

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acti

vit

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wit

hth

eh

igh

est

freq

uen

cies

of

ED

pre

sen

tati

on

sar

e(i

nra

nk

ord

er):

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stra

lian

foo

tbal

l,b

icycl

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din

g,

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l/m

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pre

sen

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fro

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and

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kin

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iver

sity

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der

takin

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seri

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fre

vie

ws

on

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epid

emio

logy

and

pre

ven

tio

no

fin

jury

insp

ecif

icsp

ort

s.T

he

revie

wse

ries

was

fun

ded

by

Sp

ort

and

Rec

reat

ion

,V

icto

ria

and

cover

ed:

aero

bic

s;al

pin

esk

iin

g;

Au

stra

lian

Fo

otb

all;

bas

ebal

l;b

asket

bal

l;cr

icket

;cr

oss

-co

un

try

skii

ng;

go

lf;

gym

nas

tics

;h

ock

ey;

ho

rse-

rela

ted

;in

-lin

esk

atin

g;

law

nb

ow

ls;

net

bal

l;ru

nn

ing;

sno

wb

oar

din

g;

socc

er;

soft

bal

l;sq

uas

h;

ten

nis

;vo

lley

bal

lan

dru

gb

yu

nio

n.

Inad

dit

ion

toth

efu

llre

po

rts,

the

rese

arch

ers

pro

du

ced

fact

shee

tsfo

rsp

ort

sp

arti

cip

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dis

trib

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esea

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MU

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Can

do

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exp

lori

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mec

han

ism

sfo

ru

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gan

dd

isse

min

atin

gin

form

atio

no

nth

ep

reven

tio

no

fsp

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and

acti

ve

recr

eati

on

inju

ries

asan

dw

hen

new

kn

ow

led

ge

bec

om

esav

aila

ble

.

23(2

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om

ein

jury

Ho

tta

pw

ate

rsc

ald

s(H

aza

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itio

ns

3,

19

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;1

2,

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92

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Ho

tta

pw

ater

iso

ne

of

the

mo

stco

mm

on

cau

ses

of

scal

ds

toch

ild

ren

(an

do

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peo

ple

).V

ISA

Rd

ata

sho

ws

1,9

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pre

sen

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Six

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wit

hth

ete

mp

erat

ure

of

bat

han

dsh

ow

erta

pw

ater

.

Th

ese

ver

ity

of

bat

han

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ersc

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s,an

dth

eir

pre

ven

tab

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ere

the

maj

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tio

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exp

erie

nce

sho

wed

that

regu

lati

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the

tem

per

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reo

fd

om

esti

ch

ot

wat

erre

du

ced

the

risk

of

chil

dsc

ald

inju

ries

.

VIS

AR

dat

aan

alysi

sp

rovid

edsu

pp

ort

for

the

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tori

anca

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aign

toh

igh

ligh

tth

ese

ver

ity

and

pre

ven

tab

ilit

yo

fb

ath

and

sho

wer

scal

ds

inyo

un

gch

ild

ren

and

the

case

for

the

regu

lati

on

of

tap

wat

erte

mp

erat

ure

atb

ath

roo

mo

utl

ets.

VIS

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stro

ngly

sup

po

rted

the

med

iaan

dad

vo

cacy

cam

pai

gn

led

by

Kid

safe

inV

icto

ria

(fo

llo

win

gth

ele

ado

fN

SW

Hea

lth

on

this

issu

e)to

red

uce

the

del

iver

yte

mp

erat

ure

of

do

mes

tic

ho

tw

ater

to5

0ºC

.

Th

eA

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uil

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e(1

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was

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ged

tore

qu

ire

that

all

new

ho

tw

ater

inst

alla

tio

ns

shal

l,at

the

ou

tlet

of

all

san

itar

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res

use

dp

rim

aril

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rp

erso

nal

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ne

pu

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iver

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tw

ater

no

tex

ceed

ing

50

deg

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siu

sin

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and

43

.5d

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us

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dh

oo

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pri

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yan

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con

dar

ysc

ho

ols

and

nu

rsin

gh

om

eso

rsi

mil

arfa

cili

ties

for

aged

,si

cko

rd

isab

led

per

son

s(T

he

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ion

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bin

gan

dD

rain

age

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de

AS

35

00

.4-1

99

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C,

inco

nju

nct

ion

wit

hth

eA

BS

and

the

Dep

artm

ent

of

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man

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vic

es,

has

mo

nit

ore

dse

lf-r

epo

rted

dat

ao

nh

ou

seh

old

tap

wat

erte

mp

erat

ure

over

tim

e.V

icto

rian

surv

eys

rep

ort

that

the

pro

po

rtio

no

fh

ou

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old

sw

ith

yo

un

gch

ild

ren

that

hav

eh

ot

wat

erd

eliv

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‘on

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om

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Th

efu

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gu

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uld

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seen

over

the

lon

ger

term

.

VICTORIAN INJURY SURVEILLANCE & APPLIED RESEARCH SYSTEM HAZARD 50 page 15

24 25

Ho

td

rin

ksc

ald

s:sp

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resi

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Rid

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ho

td

rin

ks

bei

ng

pu

lled

over

or

kn

ock

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nto

yo

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gch

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hes

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ften

occ

ur

wh

enth

ech

ild

acce

sses

the

cup

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mu

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om

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ench

or

tab

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Th

eco

nte

nts

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the

mu

gu

sual

lysp

ill

do

wn

war

ds

over

the

chil

d’s

face

,ch

est

and

arm

s.

VIS

AR

ED

dat

afo

rth

ep

erio

d1

99

6-2

00

0in

dic

ate

that

24

%o

fth

ere

po

rted

1,9

90

scal

ds

toyo

un

gch

ild

ren

(aged

0-4

yea

rs)

wer

eas

soci

ated

wit

hh

ot

dri

nks.

Nin

ety

per

cen

to

fth

ese

inju

ries

occ

ur

inth

eh

om

e.T

he

pea

kag

egro

up

invo

lved

isto

dd

lers

inth

eir

seco

nd

yea

ro

fli

fe.

Mo

reth

antw

elve

yea

rsh

ave

elap

sed

sin

ceV

ISA

Rid

enti

fied

this

cau

seo

fth

erm

alin

jury

amo

ng

yo

un

gch

ild

ren

and

reco

mm

end

edth

ed

evel

op

men

to

fan

acce

pta

ble

spil

l-re

sist

ant

mu

g.

Over

this

per

iod

mo

reth

an1

,20

0yo

un

gch

ild

ren

hav

eb

een

adm

itte

dto

Vic

tori

anh

osp

ital

sfo

rsc

ald

sfr

om

ho

tte

a,co

ffee

and

oth

erb

ever

ages

.

Ha

zard

12

no

ted

that

asi

gn

ific

ant

pro

po

rtio

no

fh

ot

bev

erag

esc

ald

sin

yo

un

gch

ild

ren

cou

ldb

ep

reven

ted

ifp

aren

tsan

dca

regiv

ers

use

dsp

ill-

resi

stan

tte

aan

dco

ffee

mu

gs.

VIS

AR

has

exp

end

eda

lot

of

staf

fti

me

and

effo

rto

nget

tin

gan

attr

acti

ve

and

wel

l-d

esig

ned

spil

l-re

sist

ant

tea

and

coff

eem

ug

on

toth

eA

ust

rali

anm

arket

.

VIS

AR

rese

arch

has

iden

tifi

edfo

ur

esse

nti

ald

esig

nfe

atu

res

of

the

spil

l-re

sist

ant

mu

g:

asi

pth

rou

gh

lid

or

alte

rnat

ive

mec

han

ism

tore

du

cesp

ill

rate

;a

wid

ean

dst

able

,sl

ip-r

esis

tan

tb

ase

top

reven

tti

p-o

ver

s;fa

il-s

afen

ess;

and

shat

terp

roo

fm

ater

ial

(on

flo

or

con

tact

).

VIS

AR

has

coll

ecte

dn

um

ero

us

sam

ple

so

fm

ugs,

sever

alo

fw

hic

hw

ere

pro

du

ced

inth

eU

nit

edS

tate

sfo

rco

mm

ute

rd

rin

kin

g.

No

ne

of

thes

esa

mp

les

wer

esu

itab

lean

def

fort

sw

ere

then

mad

eto

dev

elo

pa

pro

toty

pe

wit

hth

eh

op

eo

fen

cou

ragin

gm

anu

fact

ure

.T

his

op

tio

np

roved

pro

hib

itiv

ely

exp

ensi

ve.

Th

eo

ngo

ing

rese

arch

pro

gra

min

clu

ded

ap

ilo

to

fth

eac

cep

tab

ilit

yo

fsp

ill-

resi

stan

tm

ugs

amo

ng

day

care

staf

f,u

sin

ga

com

mo

nly

avai

lab

leco

mm

ute

rm

ug.

Fin

din

gs

on

the

level

of

acce

pta

bil

ity

wer

ep

osi

tive.

In2

00

2,

MU

AR

Cw

ill

com

ple

tep

erfo

rman

cete

stin

go

fa

mu

gth

atre

cen

tly

cam

eo

nto

the

mar

ket

(wit

hfu

nd

sfr

om

the

Vic

tori

anD

epar

tmen

to

fH

um

anS

ervic

es).

Fir

e-re

late

db

urn

s:sm

ok

ea

larm

s

In1

99

7th

ere

wer

esi

xte

ench

ild

dea

ths

inA

ust

rali

a(s

ixin

Vic

tori

a)ca

use

db

yfi

re,

flam

es,

bu

rns

and

scal

ds

(7%

of

chil

din

jury

dea

ths)

.C

hil

dre

nag

ed0

-4yea

rsw

ere

mo

stat

risk

fro

mfi

re/f

lam

es/b

urn

s,ac

cou

nti

ng

for

thir

teen

dea

ths

(77

%)

inth

isca

tego

ry.

At

leas

tsi

xo

fth

ese

dea

ths

invo

lved

ho

use

fire

s.In

ho

use

fire

s,ver

yyo

un

gch

ild

ren

are

par

ticu

larl

yvu

lner

able

bec

ause

they

dep

end

on

adu

lts

for

assi

stan

ceto

esca

pe

the

fire

.

On

eo

fth

em

ost

imp

ort

ant

risk

fact

ors

for

ho

use

fire

-rel

ated

dea

this

the

abse

nce

of

asm

oke

alar

m(R

un

yan

etal

.,1

99

3).

US

rese

arch

sho

wed

that

smo

ke

alar

mca

mp

aign

sth

atra

ise

gen

eral

fire

safe

tyaw

aren

ess

asw

ell

asal

arm

cover

age

are

effe

ctiv

ein

red

uci

ng

fire

-rel

ated

inju

ryan

dm

ort

alit

y(M

allo

nee

etal

.,1

99

6).

Aca

se-c

on

tro

lst

ud

yco

nd

uct

edin

Mel

bo

urn

ein

19

98

sho

wed

that

ho

use

sw

ith

ou

tsm

oke

alar

ms

carr

ym

ore

than

five

tim

esth

eri

sko

ffa

tal

and

inju

rio

us

fire

sth

anh

ou

ses

wit

hsm

oke

alar

ms

(Beg

get

al.,

19

98

).

VIS

AR

and

MU

AR

Cgav

est

ron

gsu

pp

ort

toth

eca

mp

aign

(led

by

the

MF

B)

tore

gu

late

for

the

com

pu

lso

ryin

stal

lati

on

of

smo

ke

alar

ms

(pre

fera

bly

har

dw

ired

)in

do

mes

tic

dw

elli

ngs

inV

icto

ria.

Pen

din

gth

efu

llco

ver

age

of

Vic

tori

anh

om

esb

yh

ard

-wir

edsm

oke

alar

ms,

VIS

AR

con

tin

ues

toad

vo

cate

for

the

inst

alla

tio

no

flo

ng-l

ife

(10

-yea

r)sm

oke

alar

ms

(po

wer

edb

ysi

ngle

pu

rpo

seli

thiu

mb

atte

ries

)in

pre

fere

nce

toth

eco

nven

tio

nal

bat

tery

op

erat

edsm

oke

alar

m.

MU

AR

Ch

asm

on

ito

red

smo

ke

alar

mu

pta

ke

pro

gra

ms

insp

ecif

icco

mm

un

ity-b

ased

inju

ryp

reven

tio

np

rogra

ms

and

thro

ugh

stat

ewid

esu

rvey

s(t

he

latt

erin

con

jun

ctio

nw

ith

the

AB

San

dD

epar

tmen

to

fH

um

anS

ervic

es).

In1

99

2,

32

%o

fM

elb

ou

rne

ho

use

ho

lds

rep

ort

edh

avin

gsm

oke

alar

ms

inst

alle

dco

mp

ared

wit

h8

4%

of

ho

use

ho

lds

in1

99

8.

Th

eV

icto

rian

go

ver

nm

ent

pas

sed

legis

lati

on

in1

99

1an

d1

99

6re

qu

irin

gth

ein

stal

lati

on

of

24

0V

har

dw

ired

smo

ke

alar

ms

wit

hb

ack-u

pb

atte

ryin

all

new

ho

mes

and

sub

stan

tial

lyre

no

vat

edd

wel

lin

gs

and

,fr

om

Feb

ruar

y1

99

9,

the

inst

alla

tio

no

fsm

oke

alar

ms

(har

dw

ired

or

bat

tery

op

erat

ed)

inal

lex

isti

ng

flat

s,u

nit

san

dh

om

es.

Fu

ture

com

pli

ance

effo

rts

nee

dto

be

dir

ecte

dto

war

ds

ensu

rin

gth

atin

stal

led

smo

ke

alar

ms

are

alw

ays

fun

ctio

nal

.

VICTORIAN INJURY SURVEILLANCE & APPLIED RESEARCH SYSTEM HAZARD 50 page 16

26 2827

Ho

me

dro

wn

ing

:p

oo

lfe

ncin

g(H

aza

rded

itio

ns

2,

19

88

;5

,1

99

0;

7,

19

91

;3

0,

19

97

;an

d3

4,

19

98

)

Dro

wn

ing

isth

em

ost

com

mo

nca

use

of

inju

ryd

eath

inyo

un

gch

ild

ren

(aged

1-4

yea

rs)

inA

ust

rali

a.

VE

MD

dat

ain

dic

ate

that

inth

eca

len

dar

yea

r2

00

0,

64

chil

dre

nag

edle

ssth

an1

5yea

rsd

row

ned

or

nea

rly

dro

wn

edin

Vic

tori

a,u

pfr

om

53

in1

99

9an

d4

2in

19

98

.T

ren

dd

ata

sho

wth

atw

eca

nex

pec

t7

4ch

ild

dro

wn

ing

and

nea

rd

row

nin

gca

ses

in2

00

1,

risi

ng

to8

6ca

ses

in2

00

2.

(VA

ED

dat

afo

r2

00

1is

no

tyet

avai

lab

le.)

Mu

chw

ork

has

bee

nd

on

ein

rece

nt

yea

rsto

pre

ven

tch

ild

dro

wn

ing,

incl

ud

ing

par

ent

and

care

red

uca

tio

n,

med

iaca

mp

aign

san

dre

gu

lati

on

.D

esp

ite

thes

eef

fort

s,p

oo

lsan

db

ath

sst

ill

acco

un

tfo

r5

0%

and

12

%,

resp

ecti

vel

y,

of

dro

wn

ing

inyo

un

gch

ild

ren

.

Po

ol

fen

cin

gth

atco

nfo

rms

toth

eA

ust

rali

anS

tan

dar

d(A

S1

92

6)

isth

em

ost

effe

ctiv

em

ean

so

fp

reven

tin

gd

row

nin

go

fyo

un

gch

ild

ren

.T

he

risk

of

dro

wn

ing

inan

un

fen

ced

po

ol

is3

.7ti

mes

that

of

dro

wn

ing

ina

fen

ced

po

ol.

Fu

rth

er,

the

chan

ceo

fd

row

nin

gin

a3

sid

edfe

nce

dp

oo

lis

5.8

tim

esth

ato

fd

row

nin

gin

ap

oo

lw

ith

iso

lati

on

fen

cin

g(T

ho

mso

n&

Riv

ara,

20

02

).

VIS

AR

has

alo

ng

his

tory

of

acti

ve

advo

cacy

on

dro

wn

ing

pre

ven

tio

n,

regu

larl

yh

igh

ligh

tin

gth

eis

sue

inH

aza

rd.

VIS

AR

sup

pli

edin

form

atio

no

nth

ep

atte

rno

fch

ild

dro

wn

ing

and

pre

ven

tio

nm

easu

res

toad

vo

cacy

gro

up

san

dgo

ver

nm

ent

bo

die

sto

un

der

pin

the

dev

elo

pm

ent

and

imp

lem

enta

tio

no

fp

oo

lfe

nci

ng

stan

dar

ds

and

regu

lati

on

sin

Vic

tori

aan

do

ther

stat

es.

In1

99

8,

VIS

AR

surv

eyed

loca

lco

un

cils

toin

ves

tigat

eth

een

forc

emen

to

fp

oo

lfe

nci

ng

legis

lati

on

atth

elo

cal

go

ver

nm

ent

level

and

toex

amin

eth

eir

pro

cess

esan

dth

eb

arri

ers

toen

forc

emen

t(A

shb

y,

etal

.,1

99

8).

Inad

dit

ion

,V

ISA

Rsu

rvey

eda

sam

ple

of

real

esta

teag

ents

tod

eter

min

eth

eir

role

infa

cili

tati

ng

the

ado

pti

on

of

po

ol

fen

cin

gre

qu

irem

ents

.

Th

eV

ISA

Rst

ud

yfo

un

dth

ere

was

wid

evar

iati

on

inth

een

forc

emen

to

fp

oo

lle

gis

lati

on

by

cou

nci

lsan

dth

ere

was

po

ten

tial

for

imp

rovin

gco

mp

lian

ceo

fp

oo

lsif

regu

lati

on

fen

cin

gw

asen

forc

edw

hen

pro

per

ties

wer

ep

ut

up

for

sale

.

Fro

mJu

ly1

19

97

Vic

tori

anla

wre

qu

ires

all

exis

tin

gre

sid

enti

alsw

imm

ing

po

ols

and

spas

hav

esa

fety

bar

rier

sto

pre

ven

tu

nsu

per

vis

edac

cess

by

yo

un

gch

ild

ren

.A

bar

rier

refe

rsto

afe

nce

,w

all,

gat

eo

rsc

reen

asw

ell

aslo

cks,

latc

hes

or

oth

erd

evic

eo

nd

oo

rs,

gat

esan

dw

ind

ow

s.

Cu

rren

tly,

the

Vic

tori

anB

uil

din

gC

om

mis

sio

nis

atte

mp

tin

gto

do

cum

ent

the

loca

tio

no

fp

rivat

ep

oo

lsin

all

Vic

tori

anm

un

icip

alit

ies

wit

ha

vie

wto

imp

lem

enti

ng

mea

sure

sto

imp

rove

com

pli

ance

wit

hp

oo

lfe

nci

ng

regu

lati

on

s.

Cu

ttin

ga

nd

pie

rcin

gin

jury

(1):

do

mest

ica

rch

itectu

ral

gla

ss(H

aza

rded

itio

ns

7,

19

91

;2

2&

25

,1

99

5;

and

32

,1

99

7).

Inth

esi

x-y

ear

per

iod

19

96

-20

00

VIS

AR

dat

ash

ow

s4

,28

4E

Dp

rese

nta

tio

ns

for

gla

ss-r

elat

edin

jury

ind

om

esti

cd

wel

lin

gs,

mo

stly

invo

lvin

gw

ind

ow

(67

%)

and

do

or

(15

%)

gla

ss.

An

earl

ier

in-d

epth

anal

ysi

so

fE

Dd

ata

for

19

96

-7(n

=9

95

case

s)sh

ow

edth

attw

o-t

hir

ds

of

the

chil

dca

ses

of

do

mes

tic

gla

ssin

jury

(n=

50

5ca

ses)

wer

em

ales

,m

ost

com

mo

nly

inth

e1

-3yea

rag

egro

up

.O

ver

thre

e-q

uar

ters

(76

%)

of

the

chil

din

juri

esw

ere

lace

rati

on

s,m

ost

lyto

the

face

,sc

alp

and

low

erar

m.

Th

em

ost

freq

uen

tm

ech

anis

ms

of

inju

ryw

ere

fall

s(2

4%

),gla

ssco

llap

se/c

avin

gin

(8%

),h

ors

epla

y(5

%)

and

figh

tin

g/q

uar

rell

ing

(4%

).

Th

ere

wer

e4

90

adu

ltgla

ss-r

elat

edin

jury

case

sin

19

96

-7,

over

on

e-h

alf

of

wh

ich

occ

urr

edin

mal

esag

ed1

5-2

9yea

rs.

Th

em

ost

com

mo

nm

ech

anis

ms

of

gla

ss-r

elat

edin

jury

inth

isag

egro

up

was

fall

s(2

4%

)an

dfi

gh

ts(2

1%

).L

acer

atio

ns

acco

un

ted

for

83

%o

fad

ult

do

mes

tic

gla

ss-r

elat

edin

juri

es.

VIS

AR

has

resp

on

ded

toa

nu

mb

ero

fin

form

atio

nre

qu

ests

,es

pec

iall

yre

late

dto

med

iare

po

rts

of

dea

ths

and

seri

ou

sin

jury

asso

ciat

edw

ith

do

mes

tic

gla

ss.

VIS

AR

and

MU

AR

Cp

layed

stro

ng

advo

cacy

role

sfo

rth

ead

op

tio

no

fth

eA

ust

rali

anS

tan

dar

d(A

S1

28

8-1

98

9)

for

gla

ssin

bu

ild

ings,

incl

ud

ing

resi

den

tial

bu

ild

ings,

into

Vic

tori

a’s

Bu

ild

ing

Co

de.

Th

eai

mw

asto

man

dat

eth

eu

seo

fsa

fety

(to

ugh

ened

)gla

zin

gm

ater

ial,

inp

lace

of

ord

inar

yan

nea

led

gla

ss,

insi

tuat

ion

sw

her

egla

ssis

likel

yto

be

sub

ject

tob

reak

age

du

eto

win

dlo

adin

go

rh

um

anim

pac

t.

In1

99

1(A

S1

28

8-1

98

9)

“Gla

ssin

Bu

ild

ings

–S

elec

tio

nan

dIn

stal

lati

on

”w

asad

op

ted

into

the

Bu

ild

ing

Co

de.

Th

isS

tan

dar

dre

qu

ires

that

safe

tygla

zin

gm

ater

ials

,to

ugh

ened

gla

ss,

lam

inat

edgla

sso

ro

rgan

icgla

ssis

use

din

bu

ild

ings

insi

tuat

ion

sw

her

ean

nea

led

gla

ssw

asp

revio

usl

yac

cep

tab

le.

An

nea

led

gla

ssb

reak

sw

ith

rela

tivel

ylo

wim

pac

tin

toja

gged

pie

ces,

wh

erea

s,to

ugh

ened

gla

zin

gm

ater

ials

gen

eral

lyb

reak

less

read

ily

into

smal

lp

arti

cles

that

hav

eb

lun

ted

ges

.

Cu

ttin

ga

nd

pie

rcin

gin

jury

(2):

perf

orm

an

ce

of

safe

tyg

lass

Th

egla

ssin

du

stry

and

an

um

ber

of

go

ver

nm

ent

dep

artm

ents

hav

eex

pre

ssed

con

cern

sab

ou

tth

eo

ccu

rren

ceo

fse

ver

ein

jury

invo

lvin

gsa

fety

gla

ss.

MU

AR

Ch

ost

eda

nat

ion

alw

ork

sho

po

nsa

fety

gla

ssin

juri

esin

mid

20

02

.P

ote

nti

alre

sear

chco

llab

ora

tors

,gla

ssm

anu

fact

ure

rsan

dre

gu

lato

rsp

arti

cip

ated

inth

ew

ork

sho

p,

wh

ich

aim

edto

iden

tify

are

sear

chag

end

afo

rp

reven

tin

gsa

fety

gla

ss-r

elat

edin

juri

es,

and

po

ten

tial

fun

din

gso

urc

esfo

rre

sear

ch.

Ind

ust

ryh

asag

reed

top

artn

erM

UA

RC

on

rese

arch

toid

enti

fyth

esi

zean

dn

atu

reo

fth

esa

fety

gla

ss-r

elat

edin

jury

pro

ble

man

dth

ere

aso

ns

for

the

fail

ure

of

safe

tygla

ss.

VICTORIAN INJURY SURVEILLANCE & APPLIED RESEARCH SYSTEM HAZARD 50 page 17

313029D

oo

rja

ms:

fin

ger

pro

tect

ors

(Ha

zard

edit

ion

s1

0,

19

92

;1

4&

16

,1

99

3;

and

25

,1

99

5)

In1

98

9V

ISA

Rid

enti

fied

that

fin

ger

jam

inju

ries

wer

eco

mm

on

inch

ild

ren

aged

less

than

5yea

rs.

Inth

ep

revio

us

yea

r1

43

ED

chil

dp

rese

nta

tio

ns

wer

ere

cord

edfo

rfi

nger

jam

cru

shes

,fr

actu

res

or

amp

uta

tio

ns.

Afo

llo

wu

pst

ud

yo

na

sam

ple

of

thes

eca

ses

fou

nd

that

the

mec

han

ism

inm

ore

than

60

%o

fca

ses

invo

lvin

gyo

un

gch

ild

ren

invo

lved

the

hin

ge

sid

eo

fth

ed

oo

r(O

zan

ne-

Sm

ith

etal

.1

99

3).

Lat

erre

sear

chb

yV

ISA

Rin

toh

om

ein

juri

es(H

aza

rd1

4)

and

inju

ries

inch

ild

care

sett

ings

(Ha

zard

16

)fo

un

dth

atfi

nger

jam

inju

ries

are

freq

uen

tan

dse

ver

ein

bo

thse

ttin

gs.

VIS

AR

assi

sted

the

dev

elo

pm

ent

of

a‘f

inger

safe

gu

ard

’w

hic

hsh

ield

sth

eh

inge

sid

eo

fth

ed

oo

r.T

he

man

ufa

ctu

rer,

AT

PF

abri

cati

on

s,an

dth

eC

hil

dS

afet

yC

entr

eS

ho

pat

the

Ro

yal

Ch

ild

ren

’sH

osp

ital

(RC

H)

sell

the

gu

ard

.

Bet

wee

n1

99

3an

d1

99

5V

ISA

Rh

eavil

yp

rom

ote

dth

efi

nger

safe

do

or

gu

ard

,ra

isin

gco

mm

un

ity

and

go

ver

nm

ent

awar

enes

so

fth

ep

rob

lem

and

solu

tio

n.

VIS

AR

pro

mo

ted

the

inst

alla

tio

no

fd

oo

rgu

ard

sin

chil

dca

rese

ttin

gs

anti

cip

atin

gth

atth

ism

ayen

cou

rage

par

ents

toin

stal

lth

emin

the

ho

me

sett

ing.

Th

eR

CH

Ch

ild

Saf

ety

Cen

tre

has

taken

the

lead

inp

rom

oti

ng

the

dev

ice

toch

ild

care

cen

tres

seek

ing

go

ver

nm

ent

accr

edit

atio

n.

Inre

cen

tyea

rsth

eir

use

has

bee

np

rom

ote

dth

rou

gh

the

incl

usi

on

of

fin

ger

safe

gu

ard

sin

the

Kid

safe

and

Arc

hic

entr

eH

om

eS

afet

yC

hec

kli

st.

Sin

ceJu

ly1

99

6ap

pro

xim

atel

y4

,50

0gu

ard

sh

ave

bee

nso

ldth

rou

gh

the

Ch

ild

Saf

ety

Cen

tre

Sh

op

or

dir

ect

fro

mth

em

anu

fact

ure

r.

Do

-It-

Yo

urs

elf

ho

me

ma

inte

na

nce

inju

ry(1

)

(Ha

zard

edit

ion

s2

2,

19

95

;2

8,

19

96

;4

1,

19

99

)

Au

stra

lian

sar

een

thu

sias

tic

Do

-It-

Yo

urs

elfe

rs,

wit

hal

mo

st8

0%

of

Vic

tori

anh

ou

seh

old

skee

pin

gh

om

em

ain

ten

ance

equ

ipm

ent

(AB

S,

19

99

).H

ow

ever

,in

juri

esfr

om

Do

-It-

Yo

urs

elf

(DIY

)m

ain

ten

ance

acti

vit

ies

acco

un

tfo

ran

aver

age

of

14

dea

ths,

35

5h

osp

ital

adm

issi

on

san

dse

ver

alth

ou

san

dE

Dp

rese

nta

tio

ns

ann

ual

lyin

Vic

tori

a.

Th

em

ech

anis

mo

fm

ost

DIY

dea

ths

and

ho

spit

alad

mis

sio

nis

fall

sfr

om

lad

der

s.L

add

ers

ran

kth

ird

beh

ind

gri

nd

ers

and

wel

der

sas

the

mec

han

ism

for

no

n-h

osp

ital

ised

DIY

inju

ries

.O

ther

com

mo

nca

use

so

fm

od

erat

e-to

-sev

ere

DIY

inju

ries

are

po

wer

saw

s,la

wn

mo

wer

san

dac

tivit

ies

asso

ciat

edw

ith

veh

icle

mai

nte

nan

ce.

Th

em

ost

freq

uen

tly

inju

red

bo

dy

site

isth

eu

pp

erli

mb

.M

ales

are

over

-rep

rese

nte

din

DIY

inju

ryca

ses.

Tre

nd

anal

yse

sfo

rel

even

yea

rso

fV

icto

rian

pu

bli

ch

osp

ital

isat

ion

s,1

98

7to

19

98

,in

dic

ate

stat

isti

call

ysi

gn

ific

ant

incr

ease

sin

rate

so

fh

osp

ital

adm

issi

on

for

an

um

ber

of

DIY

cate

go

ries

incl

ud

ing

fall

sfr

om

lad

der

s,in

juri

esfr

om

bo

thp

ow

ered

and

oth

erh

and

too

ls,

wo

od

wo

rkin

gm

ach

iner

yan

dp

ow

ered

law

nm

ow

ers.

Sin

ce1

99

5M

UA

RC

and

VIS

AR

hav

era

ised

the

issu

eo

fD

IYh

om

ein

juri

esin

rep

ort

s,jo

urn

alar

ticl

esan

dse

ver

aled

itio

ns

of

Ha

zard

.

VIS

AR

has

serv

iced

72

req

ues

tsfo

rin

form

atio

no

nD

IYh

om

ein

juri

es,

incl

ud

ing

staf

fp

arti

cip

atio

nin

17

rad

ioin

terv

iew

s.

VIS

AR

inte

nd

sto

sup

po

rtex

plo

rato

ryre

sear

chin

top

reven

tin

gD

IYin

jury

inkey

at-r

isk

gro

up

ssu

chas

old

erco

mm

un

ity

dw

elle

rs(s

eeb

elo

w).

VIS

AR

con

tin

ues

top

lay

akey

role

inco

mm

un

ity

awar

enes

sra

isin

gvia

ab

roch

ure

inte

rven

tio

n(s

eeb

elo

w),

pre

sen

tati

on

sto

com

mu

nit

ygro

up

ssu

chas

Ro

tary

and

PR

OB

IS,

ind

ust

ryp

rese

nta

tio

ns,

and

by

pro

vid

ing

com

men

tary

inth

em

edia

on

thes

eis

sues

.M

ost

rece

ntl

yV

ISA

Rh

ave

bee

nca

lled

on

top

rovid

eco

mm

ent

on

the

role

life

style

TV

pro

gra

ms

and

mag

azin

esp

lay

inth

ein

crea

sin

gn

um

ber

of

DIY

inju

ries

bei

ng

trea

ted

inV

icto

rian

ho

spit

als.

DIY

inju

ry(2

):a

wa

ren

ess

rais

ing

inte

rven

tio

n(H

aza

rded

itio

ns

36

,1

99

8;

41

,1

99

9)

Th

ere

are

an

um

ber

of

con

trib

uti

ng

fact

ors

toD

IYin

jury

scen

ario

sin

clu

din

gth

eco

sto

ftr

ades

men

,p

rid

ein

do

ing

on

e’s

ow

nD

IYta

sks,

over

-est

imat

ion

of

on

e’s

abil

itie

san

du

nd

er-

esti

mat

ion

of

the

task

ath

and

(Sp

eed

&D

ickso

n,

20

00

).

Ino

rder

tora

ise

awar

enes

so

fth

eri

sks

asso

ciat

edw

ith

DIY

mai

nte

nan

ceta

sks

VIS

AR

dat

aw

ere

uti

lise

din

the

pre

par

atio

no

fa

seri

eso

fth

ree

MU

AR

Cb

roch

ure

sai

med

atp

reven

tin

gin

jury

du

rin

gD

IYh

om

em

ain

ten

ance

task

s.W

ith

spo

nso

rsh

ipfr

om

Ess

oA

ust

rali

aL

td,

bro

chu

res

on

pre

ven

tin

gD

IYin

juri

esw

ere

dev

elo

ped

and

dis

sem

inat

edto

thre

egro

up

s:h

om

eh

and

yp

erso

ns;

reta

iler

so

fD

IYeq

uip

men

t;an

dw

ork

pla

cem

anag

ers.

Inn

ovat

ive

stra

tegie

sai

med

atp

reven

tin

gin

juri

esam

on

gcu

sto

mer

san

dw

ork

ers

wer

esu

gges

ted

for

the

latt

ertw

ogro

up

s.

Su

bst

anti

alsu

pp

ort

for

the

MU

AR

Cb

roch

ure

inte

rven

tio

nw

aso

bta

ined

fro

ma

nu

mb

ero

fkey

stak

eho

lder

sw

ho

assi

sted

wit

hb

roch

ure

dev

elo

pm

ent,

dis

trib

uti

on

and

adver

tise

men

t.M

itre

10

,H

om

eH

ard

war

e,T

hri

fty

Lin

kst

ore

san

dD

IYeq

uip

men

th

ire

ou

tlet

sp

rom

ote

dth

esa

fety

bro

chu

reto

thei

rst

aff

and

cust

om

ers.

Inad

dit

ion

,th

eV

icto

rian

Wo

rkC

over

Au

tho

rity

(VW

A)

and

the

Hir

ean

dR

enta

lA

sso

ciat

ion

of

Au

stra

lia

Ltd

sup

po

rted

init

iati

ves

toget

DIY

pre

ven

tio

nin

form

atio

nto

wo

rkp

lace

man

ager

san

dh

irin

gfi

rms.

Th

eV

WA

and

CH

OIC

Ein

clu

ded

the

bro

chu

reo

nth

eir

web

pag

es.

MU

AR

Cd

evel

op

edim

po

rtan

tn

etw

ork

sth

rou

gh

wh

ich

futu

reD

IY,

and

oth

er,

inte

rven

tio

ns

can

be

pro

gre

ssed

.In

all,

12

0,0

00

ho

me

han

dyp

erso

ns

bro

chu

res,

15

,00

0W

ork

pla

ceM

anag

ers

bro

chu

res

and

12

,00

0R

etai

lers

bro

chu

res

wer

ed

istr

ibu

ted

.T

he

imp

act

of

the

bro

chu

res

on

beh

avio

ur

chan

ge

was

no

tev

alu

ated

.V

ISA

Rw

ill

con

tin

ue

tom

on

ito

rtr

end

sin

DIY

inju

ryan

din

itia

tean

dp

arti

cip

ate

inin

jury

red

uct

ion

mea

sure

sw

hen

new

op

po

rtu

nit

ies

for

acti

on

aris

e.M

UA

RC

coll

abo

rate

dw

ith

AB

San

dD

HS

toco

llec

tb

asel

ine

exp

osu

red

ata

toD

IYac

tivit

ies

fro

mth

e1

99

8V

icto

rian

Ho

use

ho

ldS

afet

yS

urv

ey.

VICTORIAN INJURY SURVEILLANCE & APPLIED RESEARCH SYSTEM HAZARD 50 page 18

3332 34

DIY

inju

ry(3

):D

IYin

jury

ino

lder

per

son

s

VIS

AR

dat

ain

dic

ate

that

peo

ple

aged

60

yea

rsan

do

lder

are

over

-rep

rese

nte

din

seri

ou

sD

IYin

juri

es.

Th

eyac

cou

nt

for

58

%o

fd

eath

san

d3

1%

of

ho

spit

alis

atio

ns

for

DIY

inju

ry.

Old

erp

eop

lefe

atu

rep

rom

inen

tly

inla

dd

er-r

elat

edD

IYin

jury

case

sat

all

level

so

fse

ver

ity,

and

gar

den

ing

and

saw

-rel

ated

inju

ryh

osp

ital

isat

ion

s.O

lder

peo

ple

are

ath

igh

erri

sko

ffr

actu

res

and

hea

din

juri

esan

dar

eh

osp

ital

ised

for

lon

ger

per

iod

sco

mp

ared

toth

eir

yo

un

ger

cou

nte

rpar

ts.

MU

AR

Cis

add

ress

ing

this

issu

eb

yp

ilo

tin

ga

rese

arch

stra

tegy

tod

eter

min

ew

hy

old

erp

erso

ns

un

der

take

hig

h-r

isk

DIY

mai

nte

nan

ceac

tivit

ies,

toin

ves

tigat

elo

wer

-ris

kal

tern

ativ

esan

dto

det

erm

ine

wh

eth

erth

ese

alte

rnat

ives

are

feas

ible

.

Itis

sugges

ted

that

the

fact

ors

asso

ciat

edw

ith

DIY

inju

ry(i

ncl

ud

ing

the

reas

on

sfo

ru

nd

erta

kin

gD

IYac

tivit

y)

and

the

po

ten

tial

solu

tio

ns

are

dif

fere

nt

ino

lder

and

yo

un

ger

po

pu

lati

on

s.T

hes

eis

sues

wil

lal

sob

eex

plo

red

inth

ep

ilo

t.It

isex

pec

ted

that

the

pil

ot

stu

dy

wil

lb

eco

nd

uct

edm

id2

00

2.

Th

eca

sese

ries

stu

dy

wil

lal

sofu

nct

ion

asa

val

idat

ion

stu

dy

of

this

sub

set

of

VIS

AR

dat

a.

Fa

lls

fro

mh

eig

hts

inth

ed

om

esti

cse

ttin

g

VIS

AR

pro

vid

edd

ata

for

this

MU

AR

C-f

un

ded

dev

elo

pm

enta

lre

sear

chp

roje

ctw

hic

hai

ms

toin

ves

tigat

efa

lls

fro

mh

eigh

tsin

the

do

mes

tic

sett

ing

inm

ore

dep

than

dto

exp

lore

des

ign

solu

tio

ns.

VIS

AR

dat

ash

ow

that

fall

sfr

om

hei

gh

tsgre

ater

than

on

em

etre

con

stit

ute

10

%o

fal

lfa

lls.

Fo

rty-f

ive

per

cen

to

fth

ese

fall

inju

ryca

ses

occ

ur

inth

eh

om

een

vir

on

men

t.B

etw

een

19

96

and

20

00

25

,41

0fa

lls

fro

mh

eigh

tsin

and

aro

un

dd

om

esti

cd

wel

lin

gs

(excl

ud

ing

stai

rs)

wer

eid

enti

fied

inV

icto

rian

ED

pre

sen

tati

on

sd

ata.

Ro

ofs

and

lad

der

sar

eco

mm

on

lyim

pli

cate

d.

Th

irty

-six

per

cen

to

ffa

lls

fro

mh

eigh

tsre

sult

infr

actu

res.

MU

AR

Cis

curr

entl

yco

nd

uct

ing

afo

llo

w-u

pca

sese

ries

stu

dy

of

inju

red

per

son

sto

spec

ific

ally

def

ine

the

mec

han

ism

so

fin

jury

,th

eir

reas

on

sfo

ru

nd

erta

kin

gth

eD

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skin

vo

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,an

dth

eci

rcu

mst

ance

so

fth

eir

fall

s.

An

um

ber

of

inju

ryp

reven

tio

nm

easu

res,

incl

ud

ing

des

ign

solu

tio

ns,

wil

lb

ere

com

men

ded

fro

mth

eca

sese

ries

stu

dy

and

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ciat

edin

ves

tigat

ion

s.

Ho

me

Sa

fety

Acc

red

ita

tio

nS

yste

m:

Fea

sib

ilit

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ud

yo

fa

ho

me

des

ign

safe

tya

ccre

dit

ati

on

syst

em

InV

icto

ria,

abo

ut

42

%o

fal

lm

edic

ally

trea

ted

un

inte

nti

on

alch

ild

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ryan

d3

2%

of

all

adu

ltu

nin

ten

tio

nal

inju

ryo

ccu

rin

the

ho

me.

On

the

bas

iso

fth

ese

pro

po

rtio

ns,

itis

esti

mat

edth

atal

mo

st6

94

,00

0in

juri

eso

ccu

ran

nu

ally

inth

eh

om

ein

Au

stra

lia.

Of

thes

e,so

me

27

2,0

00

occ

ur

inch

ild

ren

aged

less

than

15

yea

rsan

d4

22

,00

0in

adu

lts.

At

leas

t3

0%

of

chil

dh

om

ein

juri

esan

d2

6%

of

adu

lth

om

ein

juri

esar

eas

soci

ated

wit

hst

ruct

ure

s,fi

xtu

res

and

oth

erfe

atu

res

inco

rpo

rate

din

toth

eh

om

e(R

ou

tley

&A

shb

y,

19

97

).E

ach

yea

rin

Au

stra

lia,

ther

efo

re,

anes

tim

ated

19

1,0

00

ho

me

inju

ries

are

asso

ciat

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ith

stru

ctu

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feat

ure

so

fth

eh

om

e(8

1,0

00

inch

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ren

and

11

0,0

00

inad

ult

s).

Kid

safe

Au

stra

lia

com

mis

sio

ned

MU

AR

Cto

exp

lore

the

feas

ibil

ity

of

ah

om

esa

fety

des

ign

accr

edit

atio

nsc

hem

e.T

he

pro

ject

was

fun

ded

by

Co

mm

on

wea

lth

Dep

artm

ent

of

Hea

lth

and

Aged

Car

e(D

HA

C).

VIS

AR

dat

aw

ere

use

din

the

MU

AR

Cre

vie

wo

fth

eh

om

esa

fety

feat

ure

sp

rop

ose

dfo

rth

esa

fety

accr

edit

atio

nsc

hem

e.P

ote

nti

alin

clu

sio

ns

wer

eas

sess

edo

nin

jury

pre

ven

tio

nef

fect

iven

ess,

acce

pta

bil

ity

toth

eh

om

eow

ner

and

cost

-eff

ecti

ven

ess.

Th

eM

UA

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rep

ort

pro

vid

edin

form

atio

nan

dad

vic

eo

nth

eco

rean

do

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on

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fety

feat

ure

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atsh

ou

ldb

eco

nsi

der

edfo

rin

clu

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nin

ah

om

esa

fety

des

ign

accr

edit

atio

nsc

hem

e.B

ased

on

the

pre

mis

eth

atin

itia

lef

fort

sin

ho

me

safe

tysh

ou

ldb

ed

irec

ted

atp

reven

tin

gfa

tal

and

sever

ein

jury

,th

ere

po

rtli

sted

the

foll

ow

ing

ases

sen

tial

feat

ure

so

fa

‘ch

ild

safe

’h

ou

se:

-C

om

ple

teis

ola

tio

nfe

nci

ng

of

swim

min

gp

oo

lsan

do

utd

oo

rsp

asin

acco

rdan

cew

ith

the

Au

stra

lian

Sta

nd

ard

-S

mo

ke

alar

ms,

pre

fera

bly

har

d-w

ired

or

10

-yea

rsi

ngle

pu

rpo

seli

thiu

mb

atte

ryo

per

ated

alar

ms

(to

red

uce

mai

nte

nan

ce&

bat

tery

rem

oval

for

oth

eru

ses)

-T

wo

pat

hw

ays

ou

to

fev

ery

roo

min

the

ho

me

(in

clu

din

gac

cess

ible

win

do

ws)

for

egre

ssin

the

even

to

fa

fire

-E

lect

rica

lsa

fety

swit

ches

-R

egu

lati

on

of

do

mes

tic

ho

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ater

tem

per

atu

reto

50

oC

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eliv

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fd

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mch

ild

ren

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lay

area

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min

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en

eed

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sin

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icle

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ind

ow

gu

ard

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ays

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case

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cess

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win

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ve

gro

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eigh

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up

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ard

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ith

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sist

ant

catc

hes

inth

ekit

chen

,b

ath

roo

man

dla

un

dry

for

sto

rage

of

chem

ical

san

dm

edic

atio

ns,

and

lock

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sto

rage

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den

shed

and

gar

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toxic

and

flam

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ater

ials

Th

eM

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rep

ort

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lb

ere

leas

edin

20

02

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ing

wit

hD

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Co

nth

eim

ple

men

tati

on

of

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om

esa

fety

accr

edit

atio

nsc

hem

e.

VICTORIAN INJURY SURVEILLANCE & APPLIED RESEARCH SYSTEM HAZARD 50 page 19

3635(3

)F

arm

inju

ry

Tra

cto

rro

llo

ver

inju

ry(H

aza

rded

itio

ns

24

,1

99

5;

33

,1

99

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and

47

,2

00

1)

Tra

cto

rsar

ea

pro

min

ent

cau

seo

ffa

rmw

ork

rela

ted

dea

ths

inV

icto

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and

Au

stra

lia.

Over

the

per

iod

19

92

-19

96

,tr

acto

rsw

ere

asso

ciat

edw

ith

61

%o

ffa

rmw

ork

rela

ted

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liti

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on

gad

ult

sin

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tori

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hic

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ne

thir

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ere

roll

over

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ts(D

ay,

19

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Inth

eev

ent

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aro

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ver

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llo

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uct

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mb

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ruct

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on

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pro

of

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atp

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Are

gu

lati

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req

uir

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RO

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ith

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ere

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late

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om

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19

98

,to

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incl

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ing

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ns

for

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bse

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ork

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ver

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on

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wn

ers

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mp

lyw

ith

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on

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ate

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ded

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dad

min

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red

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ple

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ent

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top

revio

usl

yu

np

rote

cted

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tors

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reb

ate

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ow

ner

so

fp

re-1

98

1tr

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fit

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rovid

edit

met

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nd

ard

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nd

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eV

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atio

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ow

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hem

ere

du

ced

the

nu

mb

ero

fu

np

rote

cted

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tors

inV

icto

ria

by

70

%fr

om

anes

tim

ated

17

,42

0to

5,2

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he

pro

po

rtio

no

fu

np

rote

cted

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tors

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icto

ria

isn

ow

app

roxim

atel

y7

%,

com

par

edw

ith

anes

tim

ated

24

%at

the

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men

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eme

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&R

ech

nit

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19

99

).

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ud

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and

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cati

on

cam

pai

gn

s,re

bat

esc

hem

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dre

gu

lati

on

has

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inat

edin

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ach

ievem

ent

and

mai

nte

nan

ceo

fth

elo

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ttr

acto

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llo

ver

dea

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tein

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tori

a’s

his

tory

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mJu

ne

20

01

,th

eV

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ana

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ance

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pai

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tori

aw

ith

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OP

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me

20

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ffic

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ect

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ailu

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ply

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hth

ere

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on

sco

uld

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ltin

pro

secu

tio

nan

dfi

nes

of

up

to$

40

,00

0(V

icto

rian

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rkC

over

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tho

rity

,2

00

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rmm

ach

iner

ytr

au

ma

Mac

hin

ery

isa

lead

ing

cau

seo

ffa

tal

and

seri

ou

sfa

rmin

jury

.E

ach

yea

rin

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tori

ath

ere

are

six

adu

ltw

ork

-rel

ated

dea

ths

and

on

ech

ild

dea

th,

80

ho

spit

alad

mis

sio

ns

and

anes

tim

ated

21

0E

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rese

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tio

ns

for

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ery

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ryo

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etr

acto

ris

the

mo

stco

mm

on

item

of

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hin

ery

invo

lved

infa

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ach

iner

ytr

aum

a.T

ract

ors

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ciat

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ith

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dd

eath

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0%

of

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ated

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ths,

and

anes

tim

ated

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fh

osp

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issi

on

s.In

the

five

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99

2to

19

97

,ro

llo

ver

san

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n-o

ver

sac

cou

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dfo

r5

7%

and

17

%o

fth

ead

ult

wo

rkre

late

dtr

acto

rd

eath

sre

spec

tivel

y,

wit

hth

ere

lati

ve

con

trib

uti

on

shif

tin

gto

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alad

mis

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%an

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resp

ecti

vel

y).

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AR

sup

pli

edd

ata

toth

eM

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dy

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qu

anti

fied

and

des

crib

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ten

to

fm

ach

iner

yin

jury

on

farm

sin

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tori

aan

did

enti

fied

the

typ

eso

fn

on

-tra

cto

rm

ach

iner

yas

soci

ated

wit

hfa

tal

and

no

n-f

atal

inju

ries

.

VIS

AR

also

iden

tifi

edin

jury

case

sfo

rth

esu

bse

qu

ent

case

seri

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ud

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on

-fat

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ain

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ents

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um

stan

ces

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ein

cid

ents

inm

ore

det

ail

and

the

fact

ors

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uti

ng

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eir

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ence

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ud

ysh

ow

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atal

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lm

ach

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Ad

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vis

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sis

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ign

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mo

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stra

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efi

ttin

go

fR

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assi

gn

ific

antl

yre

du

ced

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nu

mb

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of

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late

dd

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en

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ge

inp

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ach

iner

y-r

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eath

so

nfa

rms

isto

red

uce

the

risk

of

run

-over

even

ts.

VICTORIAN INJURY SURVEILLANCE & APPLIED RESEARCH SYSTEM HAZARD 50 page 20

393837 40

(4)

Com

mu

nit

y-b

ase

din

jury

pre

ven

tion

Co

mm

un

ity

ba

sed

inju

ryp

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on

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vid

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99

7b

;O

zan

ne-

Sm

ith

eta

l.,

19

94

;O

zan

ne-

Sm

ith

eta

l.,

19

98

).

AC

HIE

VE

ME

NT

SIN

INJ

UR

YP

RE

VE

NT

ION

PO

LIC

Y,

ST

AN

DA

RD

S,

RE

GU

LA

TIO

NA

ND

LE

GIS

LA

TIO

N

Do

gb

ite

inju

ryp

reve

nti

on

–p

rom

oti

on

,p

ub

lici

tya

nd

deb

ate

(Ha

zard

edit

ion

s3

,1

98

9;

12

,1

99

2;

25

,1

99

5;

26

,1

99

6;

and

34

,1

99

8)

Do

gb

ite

inju

ryis

ase

rio

us

pu

bli

ch

ealt

his

sue

and

of

gre

atco

mm

un

ity

con

cern

.A

lmo

stsi

nce

its

esta

bli

shm

ent

in1

98

8,

VIS

AR

has

pu

bli

cise

dth

efr

equ

ency

of

do

gb

ite

inju

ries

and

thei

rp

reven

tio

n.

Ch

ild

ren

un

der

5yea

rso

fag

ear

eth

ep

op

ula

tio

nm

ost

atri

sko

fse

rio

us

do

gb

ite

inju

ry.

Des

pit

esi

gn

ific

ant

pro

gre

ssin

red

uci

ng

the

do

gb

ite

inju

ryra

tein

this

age

gro

up

,yo

un

gch

ild

ren

con

tin

ue

tob

eh

osp

ital

ised

for

do

gb

ite

inju

ries

and

the

risk

of

do

gb

ites

rem

ain

sa

sub

ject

of

com

mu

nit

yco

nce

rnan

dm

edia

cover

age.

To

dat

e,V

ISA

Rh

ash

igh

ligh

ted

do

gb

ite

pre

ven

tio

nin

five

Ha

zard

arti

cles

,fi

ve

con

fere

nce

pre

sen

tati

on

san

da

pee

rre

vie

wed

jou

rnal

arti

cle.

VIS

AR

has

also

serv

iced

over

22

0in

form

atio

nre

qu

ests

on

the

issu

eo

fd

og

bit

e.T

he

rele

ase

of

Ha

zard

26

was

tim

edto

coin

cid

ew

ith

the

intr

od

uct

ion

of

new

legis

lati

on

inV

icto

ria

on

Do

mes

tic

An

imal

s.

VIS

AR

con

tin

ues

top

rovid

ean

evid

ence

bas

eto

sup

po

rtd

og

bit

ep

reven

tio

nef

fort

s.H

aza

rd3

4re

po

rted

bar

rier

sto

the

enfo

rcem

ent

of

the

Vic

tori

anle

gis

lati

on

(see

bel

ow

).T

he

VIS

AR

web

pag

ep

rovid

esu

pd

ates

on

surv

eill

ance

dat

ao

nd

og

bit

e,as

itb

eco

mes

avai

lab

le.

Als

o,

VIS

AR

isa

key

stak

eho

lder

ina

Vic

tori

anre

sear

chan

dd

evel

op

men

tst

rate

gy

aim

edat

un

der

stan

din

gan

dp

reven

tin

gd

og

aggre

ssio

nto

hu

man

s(s

eeb

elo

w).

VIS

AR

dat

ao

nd

og

bit

ein

jury

wer

eu

tili

sed

by

the

Bu

reau

of

An

imal

Wel

fare

tosu

pp

ort

the

on

go

ing

Vic

tori

anG

over

nm

ent’

sR

esp

on

sib

leP

etO

wn

ersh

ipca

mp

aign

.

VIS

AR

and

oth

erkey

stak

eho

lder

ssu

chas

the

Ro

yal

Ch

ild

ren

’sH

osp

ital

(wh

ose

succ

essf

ul

‘Do

gs

NK

ids’

pro

gra

mis

no

win

it’s

fift

hyea

r)h

ave

con

trib

ute

dto

ast

atis

tica

lly

sign

ific

ant

red

uct

ion

inth

eh

osp

ital

ised

do

gb

ite

rate

amo

ng

chil

dre

nag

edu

nd

er5

inV

icto

ria.

Ho

use

ho

ldsu

rvey

sco

nd

uct

edb

yth

eA

BS

inco

llab

ora

tio

nw

ith

DH

San

dM

UA

RC

sho

wa

corr

esp

on

din

gd

ecli

ne

of

do

go

wn

ersh

ipin

ho

use

ho

ldw

ith

chil

dre

nag

edle

ssth

an5

yea

rsb

etw

een

19

92

and

19

98

(AB

S,

19

99

)

Do

gA

gg

ress

ion

Str

ate

gy,

Vic

tori

a

InN

ovem

ber

20

01

VIS

AR

staf

fw

ere

invit

edto

pre

sen

tat

,an

dp

arti

cip

ate

in,

aV

icto

rian

wo

rksh

op

on

“Do

ga

gg

ress

ion

to

hu

ma

ns”

.T

he

ob

ject

ive

of

this

wo

rksh

op

was

toes

tab

lish

aco

-o

rdin

ated

rese

arch

,d

evel

op

men

tan

ded

uca

tio

np

roje

ctin

Vic

tori

aai

med

atre

du

cin

gth

ein

cid

ence

of

do

gb

ite

inth

eco

mm

un

ity.

Th

isst

rate

gy

invo

lves

ala

rge

nu

mb

ero

fkey

stak

eho

lder

sin

clu

din

g:

VIS

AR

;M

on

ash

and

Mel

bo

urn

eU

niv

ersi

ties

;R

SP

CA

;B

ure

auo

fA

nim

alW

elfa

re;

Vet

erin

ary

Ass

oci

atio

ns;

Pet

care

Info

rmat

ion

and

Ad

vis

ory

Ser

vic

es;

Lo

cal

Go

ver

nm

ent;

Vic

tori

anC

anin

eA

sso

ciat

ion

;th

eL

ost

Do

gs’

Ho

me;

and

oth

ers.

VIS

AR

,an

do

ther

pre

sen

ters

,in

form

edw

ork

sho

pp

arti

cip

ants

of

the

sco

pe

of

the

do

gb

ite

pro

ble

min

Vic

tori

a.O

ther

issu

esco

nsi

der

edin

clu

ded

the

char

acte

rist

ics

of

do

gs

and

hu

man

sth

ataf

fect

do

gag

gre

ssio

nan

dth

est

rate

gie

sth

ath

ave

bee

nu

sed

tore

du

ced

og

aggre

ssio

n.

Def

icie

nci

esin

exis

tin

gkn

ow

led

ge

and

gap

sin

the

imp

lem

enta

tio

no

fcu

rren

tkn

ow

led

ge

wer

ed

iscu

ssed

.

Wo

rksh

op

par

tici

pan

tsd

evis

eda

rese

arch

and

dev

elo

pm

ent

pla

n,

wh

ich

focu

ses

on

rigo

rou

sev

alu

atio

no

fex

isti

ng

stra

tegie

s,in

-d

epth

inves

tigat

ion

of

bit

ein

cid

ents

,an

dex

amin

atio

no

fd

og/p

erso

nre

lati

on

ship

s.

VIS

AR

wil

lco

nti

nu

eto

pla

yan

acti

ve

role

inth

ed

evel

op

men

to

fth

ere

sear

chst

rate

gie

san

dw

ork

coll

abo

rati

vel

yw

ith

oth

erst

akeh

old

ers

tob

ette

ru

nd

erst

and

and

pre

ven

td

og

aggre

ssio

nto

hu

man

s.

En

forc

emen

to

fd

og

bit

ele

gis

lati

on

(Ha

zard

edit

ion

34

,1

99

8)

New

legis

lati

on

was

intr

od

uce

din

Vic

tori

ain

Ap

ril

19

96

top

rovid

ea

fram

ewo

rkfo

rd

eali

ng

wit

hd

ogs

that

hav

eb

itte

nan

din

jure

dp

erso

ns

and

tho

seth

atm

ayin

jure

.

Th

isle

gis

lati

on

isen

forc

edat

the

loca

lgo

ver

nm

ent

level

.In

div

idu

alco

un

cils

mak

ed

ecis

ion

sab

ou

tre

gis

trat

ion

fees

,th

ep

ub

lic

area

so

fth

em

un

icip

alit

yw

her

ean

imal

sw

ill

be

allo

wed

,at

wh

atti

mes

and

un

der

wh

atfo

rmo

fco

ntr

ol

or

rest

rain

t.T

he

Do

mes

tic

Fer

alan

dN

uis

ance

An

imal

sA

ct(1

99

9)

incl

ud

esp

roce

du

res

wh

ich

cou

nci

lsca

nu

seto

pro

secu

teo

wn

ers,

seiz

ed

ogs

and

dea

lw

ith

off

end

ing

do

gs

inth

eev

ent

of

anat

tack

.

In1

99

8V

ISA

Rsu

rvey

edlo

cal

go

ver

nm

ent

dep

artm

ents

toex

amin

ep

roce

sses

and

bar

rier

sto

the

enfo

rcem

ent

of

this

legis

lati

on

.T

he

resp

on

seo

fco

un

cils

toth

ele

gis

lati

on

var

ied

refl

ecti

ng

the

dif

fere

nt

level

so

fst

aff

and

oth

erre

sou

rces

ded

icat

edto

enfo

rcem

ent

of

the

Act

.R

esp

on

den

tsin

dic

ated

that

pu

bli

cap

ath

yan

dla

cko

fkn

ow

led

ge

of

the

req

uir

emen

tsp

lace

do

nd

og

ow

ner

su

nd

erth

atA

ctar

esi

gn

ific

ant

bar

rier

sto

the

enfo

rcem

ent

of

the

legis

lati

on

atlo

cal

go

ver

nm

ent

level

(Ash

by,

etal

.,1

99

8).

Th

ere

sult

so

fth

eV

ISA

Rsu

rvey

hig

hli

gh

tth

en

eed

for

anad

equ

ate

enfo

rcem

ent

wo

rkfo

rce

and

inn

ovat

ive

stra

tegie

sto

spre

adth

em

essa

ges

on

resp

on

sib

led

og

ow

ner

ship

.

Th

eV

icto

rian

Go

ver

nm

ent’

s‘R

esp

on

sib

leP

etO

wn

ersh

ip

Pro

gra

m’

and

com

mu

nit

yst

ud

ies

by

the

Bu

reau

of

An

imal

Wel

fare

seek

tosp

read

the

mes

sage

of

resp

on

sib

led

og

ow

ner

ship

.V

ISA

Rw

ill

con

tin

ue

top

rovid

eth

ese

and

oth

erb

od

ies

wit

hsu

rvei

llan

ced

ata

and

oth

ersu

pp

ort

toac

hie

ve

inju

ryre

du

ctio

no

utc

om

es.

VICTORIAN INJURY SURVEILLANCE & APPLIED RESEARCH SYSTEM HAZARD 50 page 21

41 444342

Fir

ewo

rks

(Ha

zard

edit

ion

47

,2

00

1)

Go

ver

nm

ent

con

tro

lsre

stri

ctin

gth

esa

lean

du

seo

ffi

rew

ork

sin

Vic

tori

aw

ere

intr

od

uce

dfo

rty

yea

rsag

o(E

xp

losi

ves

Act

19

60

).T

hes

ere

gu

lati

on

sw

ere

mad

ein

resp

on

seto

sub

mis

sio

ns

by

the

med

ical

pro

fess

ion

on

the

hig

hn

um

ber

and

sever

ity

of

fire

wo

rk-

rela

ted

inju

ries

.

Th

eV

icto

rian

regu

lati

on

sw

ere

amen

ded

and

exte

nd

edin

19

72

inth

eE

xp

losi

ves

(Fir

ewo

rks

Pro

hib

itio

n)

ord

er1

98

2(N

o1

/19

82

).

Cu

rren

tre

stri

ctio

ns

on

the

sale

and

use

of

fire

wo

rks

inV

icto

ria

are

mad

eu

nd

erth

eD

anger

ou

sG

oo

ds

Act

(19

85

).T

he

Vic

tori

anW

ork

cover

Au

tho

rity

(VW

A)

has

resp

on

sib

ilit

yfo

rp

oli

cin

gth

isle

gis

lati

on

and

pro

secu

tin

gb

reac

hes

.

InH

aza

rd4

7,

VIS

AR

exam

ined

the

effe

ctiv

enes

so

fgo

ver

nm

ent

legis

lati

on

and

con

tro

lo

ffi

rew

ork

s.R

egu

lati

on

and

enfo

rcem

ent

isa

stat

ego

ver

nm

ent

resp

on

sib

ilit

y.

Th

eth

ree

MU

AR

Cre

po

rts

on

inju

ryan

dfi

res

rela

ted

tofi

rew

ork

sin

Vic

tori

aco

ncl

ud

eth

atth

eV

icto

rian

regu

lati

on

sar

egen

eral

lyef

fect

ive,

alth

ou

gh

som

eil

legal

fire

wo

rks

ente

rV

icto

ria

bec

ause

of

the

less

on

ero

us

rest

rict

ion

san

dsa

fety

req

uir

emen

tsth

ato

per

ate

ino

ther

Au

stra

lian

stat

esan

dte

rrit

ori

es(A

bd

ulw

adu

d&

Oza

nn

e-S

mit

h,

19

98

,1

99

9&

20

00

).F

oll

ow

ing

the

rece

nt

fire

wo

rks-

rela

ted

dea

tho

fa

sch

oo

lbo

yin

Vic

tori

a(t

he

firs

tin

this

stat

esi

nce

19

83

),W

ork

Saf

eV

icto

ria

exp

ress

edco

nce

rnab

ou

tth

eap

par

ent

incr

ease

inil

legal

imp

ort

so

ffi

rew

ork

sto

Vic

tori

afr

om

the

AC

T,

NT

and

So

uth

Au

stra

lia

wh

ere

fire

wo

rks

law

sar

em

ore

rela

xed

.

Fir

earm

sle

gis

lati

vere

form

InM

ay1

99

6,

sho

rtly

afte

rth

esh

oo

tin

gd

eath

so

f3

5p

eop

leat

Po

rtA

rth

ur,

Tas

man

ia,

the

Au

stra

lian

Po

lice

Min

iste

rs’

Co

un

cil

reac

hed

agre

emen

to

nu

nif

orm

fire

arm

sla

ws

for

all

stat

esan

dte

rrit

ori

esth

atre

stri

cted

the

sale

and

po

sses

sio

no

fce

rtai

nfi

rear

ms.

Bas

edo

nV

ISA

Rd

ata

sou

rces

,M

UA

RC

pro

vid

edfi

rear

m-

rela

ted

inju

ryd

ata

toS

tate

and

Co

mm

on

wea

lth

Min

iste

rsth

atfo

rmed

par

to

fth

eev

iden

ceb

ase

for

the

imp

lem

enta

tio

no

fti

gh

ter

un

ifo

rmfi

rear

mla

ws.

MU

AR

Can

alysi

so

ftr

end

dat

ad

emo

nst

rate

dth

ep

osi

tive

effe

cto

fea

rlie

rre

stri

ctiv

ele

gis

lati

on

intr

od

uce

din

Vic

tori

ain

19

88

,fo

llo

win

gtw

om

assa

cre

epis

od

es.

Sig

nif

ican

tre

du

ctio

ns

infi

rear

md

eath

sw

ere

sho

wn

bet

wee

nth

ep

rece

din

gan

dsu

bse

qu

ent

six

yea

rs,

for

fire

arm

suic

ides

,h

om

icid

esan

du

nin

ten

tio

nal

fire

arm

rela

ted

dea

ths.

Par

to

fth

ego

ver

nm

ent’

sre

spo

nse

was

an

atio

nal

gu

nb

uy-b

ack

pro

gra

mw

hic

hre

sult

edin

the

pu

rch

ase

and

des

tru

ctio

no

f6

40

,40

0gu

ns

(Ch

apm

an,

19

98

).T

he

full

effe

cto

fth

eu

nif

orm

law

s,w

hic

hb

anal

lh

and

gu

ns

and

sem

i-au

tom

atic

fire

arm

s(w

ith

few

exce

pti

on

s),

isex

pec

ted

tob

eev

iden

tin

dea

thd

ata

over

the

nex

tfe

wyea

rs.

Mo

tor

veh

icle

exh

au

stg

as

an

dsu

icid

e:se

nso

ra

nd

tail

pip

e

mo

dif

ica

tio

n(H

aza

rded

itio

ns

11

,1

99

2;

20

,1

99

4;

25

,1

99

5;

41

,1

99

9)

Ha

zard

20

hig

hli

gh

ted

that

the

inh

alat

ion

of

carb

on

mo

no

xid

e(C

O)

fro

mm

oto

rveh

icle

exh

aust

gas

isa

com

mo

nsu

icid

em

eth

od

inA

ust

rali

a,ra

nkin

gse

con

db

ehin

dh

angin

gin

rece

nt

yea

rs.

In1

99

4th

ere

wer

e9

8ca

ses

inV

icto

ria,

and

44

7ca

ses

acro

ssA

ust

rali

a,o

fex

hau

stgas

suic

ide.

In2

00

0,

the

mo

stre

cen

tyea

ro

fA

BS

dea

thd

ata,

the

nu

mb

ero

fca

ses

of

suic

ide

by

exh

aust

gas

had

incr

ease

dto

12

5in

Vic

tori

aan

d5

38

inA

ust

rali

a.T

her

eis

no

over

all

dec

lin

ein

suic

ide

by

this

met

ho

dd

esp

ite

Au

stra

lian

des

ign

rule

sth

atlo

wer

edth

ep

erm

itte

dle

vel

so

fC

Oem

issi

on

fro

mca

rex

hau

sts

in1

98

6an

dag

ain

in1

99

7.

MU

AR

Ch

asp

ub

lish

eda

nu

mb

ero

fep

idem

iolo

gic

alst

ud

ies

des

crib

ing

the

pro

ble

man

dm

on

ito

rin

gth

ere

lati

on

ship

bet

wee

nth

eyea

ro

fm

anu

fact

ure

of

veh

icle

s,th

ep

revai

lin

gen

vir

on

men

tal

regu

lati

on

so

nex

hau

stgas

ses

and

the

suic

ide

rate

sb

yth

ism

eth

od

(Ro

utl

ey,

19

98

;R

ou

tley

&O

zan

ne-

Sm

ith

19

98

).T

hes

ere

po

rts

reco

mm

end

eda

nu

mb

ero

fp

reven

tive

mea

sure

sth

atw

ou

ldli

mit

acce

ssto

this

mea

ns

of

suic

ide

incl

ud

ing

tail

pip

em

od

ific

atio

ns

and

in-c

abin

CO

sen

sors

wit

hen

gin

ecu

t-o

ffd

evic

e.

Acu

rren

tM

UA

RC

stu

dy

aim

sto

iden

tify

the

exte

nt

of

invo

lvem

ent

of

new

mo

tor

veh

icle

s(t

hat

mee

tm

ore

stri

ngen

tai

rq

ual

ity

regu

lati

on

s)in

car

exh

aust

gas

suic

ides

.If

un

safe

level

so

fC

Oem

issi

on

sar

efo

un

din

thes

en

ewveh

icle

sth

eno

ther

solu

tio

ns

may

hav

eto

be

con

sid

ered

such

asca

bin

gas

sen

sors

and

auto

mat

eden

gin

ecu

t-o

ff.

No

net

hel

ess,

the

MU

AR

Cre

com

men

dat

ion

for

the

imp

lem

enta

tio

no

fre

-des

ign

ed(s

uic

ide

resi

stan

t)ta

ilp

ipes

sho

uld

be

ado

pte

db

ecau

seo

fth

en

um

ber

of

old

erca

rsin

curr

ent

use

inV

icto

ria.

Th

ere

-des

ign

edta

ilp

ipe

sho

uld

be

retr

ofi

tted

ino

lder

veh

icle

sat

rou

tin

ere

pla

cem

ent

or

wh

enfl

eet

veh

icle

sen

ter

the

use

dca

rm

arket

.

VIS

AR

pu

bli

shed

des

ign

spec

ific

atio

ns

of

the

suic

ide-

resi

stan

tta

ilp

ipes

(dev

elo

ped

by

Jerr

yM

oll

erin

So

uth

Au

stra

lia)

ino

rder

top

ut

the

des

ign

mo

dif

icat

ion

inth

ep

ub

lic

do

mai

n(M

oll

er,

19

99

).

MU

AR

Ch

asw

ork

edto

pla

ceth

isis

sue

on

the

po

liti

cal

agen

da

atn

atio

nal

and

stat

ele

vel

san

dal

sop

arti

cip

ated

ina

nat

ion

alco

mm

itte

ees

tab

lish

edto

pro

gre

ssp

reven

tio

no

fm

oto

rveh

icle

exh

aust

suic

ide

con

ven

edb

yth

eA

ust

rali

anM

edic

alA

sso

ciat

ion

.

Ear

lyin

20

02

,th

eD

epar

tmen

to

fH

ealt

han

dA

gei

ng

sho

wed

ren

ewed

inte

rest

inth

est

rate

gy

of

pre

ven

tin

gac

cess

toth

em

ean

so

fsu

icid

ean

dh

eld

aw

ork

sho

po

fkey

stak

eho

lder

sin

clu

din

gM

UA

RC

.

Vic

Ro

ads

and

MU

AR

Cw

ill

un

der

take

on

-ro

adp

erfo

rman

cetr

ials

of

the

new

tail

pip

ed

esig

ns,

con

tin

gen

to

nth

eav

aila

bil

ity

of

exte

rnal

fun

ds.

Sin

ce1

99

2,

wh

enV

ISA

Rfi

rst

rep

ort

edth

ep

rob

lem

of

mo

tor

veh

icle

exh

aust

suic

ide

and

po

ten

tial

solu

tio

ns,

anad

dit

ion

al5

,00

0A

ust

rali

ans

use

dC

Oem

issi

on

sfr

om

car

exh

aust

sto

com

mit

suic

ide.

Sh

op

pin

gtr

oll

ey-r

ela

ted

inju

ry(H

aza

rded

itio

ns

22

&2

5,

19

95

;an

d4

2,

20

00

)

Acc

ord

ing

toV

ISA

Rd

ata,

sho

pp

ing

tro

lley

sw

ere

asso

ciat

edw

ith

atle

ast

41

8ch

ild

and

adu

ltE

Dp

rese

nta

tio

ns

inth

e7

-yea

rp

erio

d1

99

5-2

00

1.

Six

ty-t

hre

ep

erce

nt

of

case

sw

ere

chil

dre

nag

ed0

-4yea

rs.

Th

em

ost

com

mo

nin

juri

esw

ere

sup

erfi

cial

(20

%),

op

enw

ou

nd

s(2

0%

)an

din

trac

ran

ial

(18

%).

On

e-th

ird

of

inju

ryw

asto

the

hea

dan

dfa

ce,

and

the

rem

ain

der

was

fair

lyev

enly

dis

trib

ute

dac

ross

bo

dy

site

s.M

ost

inju

ries

in0

-4yea

ro

lds

(75

%)

wer

eas

soci

ated

wit

hfa

lls.

InH

aza

rd2

2(1

99

5)

VIS

AR

reco

mm

end

edth

eu

seo

fad

just

able

sho

uld

erh

arn

esse

sin

sho

pp

ing

tro

lley

sto

rest

rict

chil

dre

n’s

mo

vem

ents

and

pre

ven

tfa

lls

fro

mtr

oll

eys.

Fro

m1

99

5su

per

mar

ket

chai

ns

tria

led

the

use

of

chil

dre

stra

ints

intr

oll

eys.

Ho

wev

er,

the

init

ial

focu

sw

aso

np

rovid

ing

recl

inin

g‘b

aby

cap

sule

’se

ats,

even

tho

ugh

inju

ryd

ata

sho

wed

that

inju

ryca

ses

pea

ked

inth

e1

-3yea

rag

egro

up

.

InJa

nu

ary

19

99

,S

tan

dar

ds

Au

stra

lia

pu

bli

shed

an

ewS

tan

dar

dfo

rsh

op

pin

gtr

oll

eys

(AS

/NZ

S3

84

7.1

:19

99

).It

req

uir

esth

atan

ysh

op

pin

gtr

oll

eyw

ith

pro

vis

ion

tose

ata

chil

dsh

ou

ldh

ave

“an

inte

gra

lm

ean

so

fre

stra

inin

ga

chil

din

the

chil

dca

rryin

gfa

cili

ty”.

Alt

ho

ugh

the

Sta

nd

ard

isvo

lun

tary

,in

du

stry

sup

po

rtfo

rth

ein

tro

du

ctio

no

fsa

fety

rest

rain

tsin

sho

pp

ing

tro

lley

sis

incr

easi

ng.

Rec

ent

des

ign

sh

ave

over

com

eso

me

of

the

reta

iler

s’ea

rlie

ro

bje

ctio

ns.

Th

en

ewre

stra

ints

are

du

rab

le,

easi

lyfi

tted

and

clea

ned

,w

eath

eran

dth

eft

resi

stan

tan

dea

sily

adju

sted

.Im

ple

men

tati

on

inV

icto

rian

sup

erm

arket

sis

no

ww

ides

pre

ad.

VICTORIAN INJURY SURVEILLANCE & APPLIED RESEARCH SYSTEM HAZARD 50 page 22

474645C

hil

d-r

esis

tan

tci

ga

rett

eli

gh

ters

(Ha

zard

edit

ion

s1

2,1

99

2;

21

,1

99

4;

25

,1

99

5;

and

29

,1

99

6)

Dis

po

sab

leci

gar

ette

ligh

ters

con

trib

ute

toh

ou

sefi

res

and

are

asso

ciat

edw

ith

fire

-rel

ated

dea

ths,

seri

ou

sb

urn

inju

ries

and

sign

ific

ant

pro

per

tyd

amag

e.

VIS

AR

sup

pli

edd

ata

on

bu

rnin

jury

case

sin

wh

ich

dis

po

sab

leci

gar

ette

ligh

ters

wer

eim

pli

cate

dto

the

Fed

eral

Bu

reau

of

Co

nsu

mer

Aff

airs

,th

eV

icto

rian

Co

ron

er,

cigar

ette

ligh

ter

man

ufa

ctu

rers

and

dis

trib

uto

rsan

dsa

fety

org

anis

atio

ns.

Th

eV

icto

rian

Co

ron

er,

foll

ow

ing

anin

ves

tigat

ion

of

the

fire

-re

late

dd

eath

so

ftw

in2

-yea

r-o

ldb

oys,

reco

mm

end

edth

atst

ate

and

fed

eral

go

ver

nm

ents

giv

eco

nsi

der

atio

nto

the

pro

po

sal

that

on

lych

ild

resi

stan

tci

gar

ette

ligh

ters

be

avai

lab

lefo

rsa

lein

Vic

tori

a.C

on

seq

uen

tly,

the

issu

eo

fch

ild

resi

stan

tci

gar

ette

ligh

ters

was

pla

ced

on

the

agen

da

of

the

Sep

tem

ber

19

96

mee

tin

go

fth

eM

inis

teri

alC

ou

nci

lo

fC

on

sum

erA

ffai

rs,

wit

hth

esu

pp

ort

of

the

Vic

tori

anA

tto

rney

Gen

eral

.

VIS

AR

con

sult

edth

eU

SC

on

sum

erP

rod

uct

Saf

ety

Co

mm

issi

on

and

pro

vid

edfu

lld

ocu

men

tati

on

toth

eM

inis

teri

alC

ou

nci

lo

fth

eU

Sca

sefo

rim

ple

men

tin

ga

man

dat

ory

safe

tyst

and

ard

for

cigar

ette

ligh

ters

in1

99

3.

Th

ed

ocu

men

tati

on

incl

ud

edth

ere

sult

so

fre

gu

lato

ryim

pac

tst

ud

ies

and

ben

efit

/co

stes

tim

ates

.

Sin

ceM

arch

19

97

the

imp

ort

atio

no

fn

on

chil

d-r

esis

tan

tli

gh

ters

into

Au

stra

lia

isb

ann

edan

dsi

nce

July

19

97

itis

un

law

ful

(un

der

the

Tra

de

Pra

ctic

esA

ct)

tose

llth

em.

Th

isre

sult

rep

rese

nts

the

culm

inat

ion

of

the

wo

rko

fV

ISA

Ran

do

ther

key

pla

yer

sin

clu

din

gth

eM

etro

po

lita

nF

ire

Bri

gad

e,C

oro

nia

lS

ervic

es,

Kid

safe

and

oth

ersa

fety

org

anis

atio

ns.

Co

mp

lian

cesu

rvey

sar

eco

nd

uct

edan

nu

ally

by

the

AC

CC

.R

esu

lts

fro

mth

ed

isp

osa

ble

cigar

ette

ligh

ter

surv

eys

ind

icat

eim

pro

ved

com

pli

ance

over

tim

ew

ith

the

late

stsu

rvey

(20

02

)re

po

rtin

gh

igh

com

pli

ance

(per

son

alco

mm

un

icat

ion

,A

CC

C).

ISO

/IE

CG

uid

e5

0S

afe

tyA

spec

ts–

Gu

idel

ines

for

chil

dsa

fety

In1

99

6,

the

then

Dir

ecto

ro

fV

ISA

R,

Pro

fess

or

Joan

Oza

nn

e-S

mit

h,

was

invit

edto

rep

rese

nt

Au

stra

lia

on

the

ISO

/IE

CG

uid

e5

0w

ork

ing

gro

up

.

VIS

AR

,th

rou

gh

Pro

fess

or

Oza

nn

e-S

mit

h,

mad

ea

sub

stan

tial

con

trib

uti

on

toth

eit

erat

ive

pro

cess

of

dra

ftin

gth

isgu

ide,

wh

ich

invo

lved

exte

nsi

ve

inte

rnat

ion

alco

nsu

ltat

ion

.T

he

gu

ide

pro

vid

esd

etai

led

info

rmat

ion

on

chil

dd

evel

op

men

tan

dh

azar

ds

toch

ild

ren

for

use

inth

ep

rep

arat

ion

of

stan

dar

ds

for

pro

du

cts

that

hav

eso

me

exp

osu

reto

chil

dre

n.

In1

99

9,

the

Gu

ide

rece

ived

the

app

roval

of

36

cou

ntr

ies,

incl

ud

ing

Au

stra

lia.

Pu

bli

cati

on

isex

pec

ted

in2

00

2.

Asu

bst

anti

alad

vo

cacy

pro

gra

mw

ill

be

req

uir

edin

Au

stra

lia

toen

sure

that

Gu

ide

50

isac

cep

ted

and

effe

ctiv

ely

use

d.

Th

isty

pe

of

gu

ide

isp

arti

cula

rly

imp

ort

ant

bec

ause

,u

nli

ke

oth

erd

evel

op

edco

un

trie

s,A

ust

rali

ala

cks

agen

eral

pro

du

ctsa

fety

dir

ecti

ve

or

oth

erm

ean

sto

ensu

reth

eu

pta

ke

of

vo

lun

tary

stan

dar

ds.

Co

sto

fIn

jury

VIS

AR

dat

ain

form

edth

efi

rst

cost

of

inju

ryst

ud

yin

Vic

tori

aan

dA

ust

rali

aco

nd

uct

edb

yM

UA

RC

in1

99

6.

Th

est

ud

yes

tim

ated

that

tota

lli

feti

me

cost

of

inju

rysu

stai

ned

in1

99

3/4

was

$2

,58

3m

illi

on

con

sist

ing

of:

dir

ect

cost

so

f$

75

9m

illi

on

;in

dir

ect

cost

sin

clu

din

gm

ort

alit

yco

sts

of

$8

13

mil

lio

n;

and

tota

lm

orb

idit

yco

sts

of

$1

,01

1m

illi

on

(Wat

son

&O

zan

ne-

Sm

ith

,1

99

7).

Th

eco

sto

fin

jury

stu

dy

has

bee

nu

tili

sed

for

man

yp

urp

ose

s.It

has

bee

nu

sed

asth

eb

asis

for

Au

stra

lian

cost

esti

mat

es(M

oll

er,

19

98

),fo

rd

escr

ibin

gth

eco

sto

fm

any

spec

ific

inju

ryp

rob

lem

san

dfo

res

tim

atin

gth

eb

enef

its/

cost

rati

os

for

po

ten

tial

inte

rven

tio

ns.

An

acce

ssib

leco

stan

dco

nse

qu

ence

so

fin

jury

mo

del

isn

eed

edto

pro

vid

eu

p-t

o-d

ate

esti

mat

esw

hen

new

epid

emio

logic

alan

dco

std

ata

bec

om

eav

aila

ble

.A

go

od

cost

mo

del

sho

uld

hav

eth

eca

pac

ity

tob

ein

terr

ogat

edo

ncr

iter

iasu

chas

mec

han

ism

of

inju

ry,

pro

du

ctin

vo

lvem

ent,

age

of

inju

red

per

son

s,lo

cati

on

of

inju

ryan

dac

tivit

yat

the

tim

eo

fin

jury

.

VICTORIAN INJURY SURVEILLANCE & APPLIED RESEARCH SYSTEM HAZARD 50 page 23

4948 50

AC

HIE

VE

ME

NT

SIN

OT

HE

RA

RE

AS

Esc

ala

tor-

rela

ted

inju

ry(H

aza

rd2

4,

19

95

)

Inth

esi

x-y

ear

per

iod

19

96

-20

01

,V

ISA

Rd

ata

ind

icat

edth

ere

wer

eat

leas

t2

11

ED

pre

sen

tati

on

sfo

res

cala

tor-

rela

ted

inju

ries

.T

he

mo

stfr

equ

entl

yo

ccu

rrin

gin

juri

esw

ere

op

enw

ou

nd

s(3

8%

),su

per

fici

alin

juri

es(1

9%

),fr

actu

res

(14

%)

and

spra

in/s

trai

n(1

2%

).T

he

mo

stco

mm

on

lyin

jure

db

od

ysi

tes

wer

eth

eh

ead

/fac

e(2

5%

),h

and

,in

clu

din

gfi

nger

s(1

0%

),lo

wer

leg

(10

%)

and

kn

ee(1

0%

).T

he

maj

or

mec

han

ism

of

inju

ryw

asfa

lls

(76

%).

Inju

ryca

ses

wer

efa

irly

even

lysp

read

acro

ssag

egro

up

sw

ith

smal

lp

eaks

in0

-4an

d8

0+

age

gro

up

s.T

wen

typ

erce

nt

of

case

sw

ere

adm

itte

dto

ho

spit

al.

Inves

tigat

ion

so

fin

juri

esre

late

dto

the

pu

bli

cu

seo

fes

cala

tors

con

du

cted

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VICTORIAN INJURY SURVEILLANCE & APPLIED RESEARCH SYSTEM HAZARD 50 page 24

AcknowledgmentsWith the exception of short periods offunding from the Victorian Departmentof Human Services and the NationalBetter Health Program, VicHealth hasprovided the core funding for VISS andVISAR. This support is gratefullyacknowledged. Many people andorganisations contribute to Hazard,including the hospital emergencydepartments, which supply data, theDepartment of Human Services forhospital admissions data, the authors andthe editorial board. Jocelyn Bell isresponsible for illustrations in almost alleditions and Denis Crowley for printerliaison. MUARC and VISARacknowledge these contributions withgratitude.

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Mobility & Safetyof Older PeopleConference26-27 August, 2002

Conference Manager:Ms Irene ThavarajahConference Management OfficePhone +61 3 9905 1344Fax +61 3 9905 1343Email:irene.thavarajah@adm.monash.edu.au

http://www.monash.edu.au/oce/older_mobility

VICTORIAN INJURY SURVEILLANCE & APPLIED RESEARCH SYSTEM HAZARD 50 page 26

- INDEX -Subject Edition PagesBabywalkers, update .........................................................................................................................16,20,25,34...................1-4,12-13,7-8,7-8Baseball ............................................................................................................................................................ 30 ......................................10-12Bunkbeds ........................................................................................................................................................... 11 ............................................ 12Bicycles - Bicycle related ................................................................................................................6,34,44.......................1-8,8-12,10-11

- BMX bikes ........................................................................................................................31,44..................................9-11,7-8 - Cyclist head injury study .............................................................................................. 2,7,8,10..................................2,8,13,9

Burns - Scalds ...................................................................................................................................3,25 ....................................1-4,4-6 - Burns prevention ..................................................................................................................... 12 ........................................1-11

Chainsaws.......................................................................................................................................................... 22 ......................................13-17Child care settings ............................................................................................................................................. 16 ........................................5-11Client survey results .......................................................................................................................................... 28 ............................................ 13Data base use, interpretation & example of form .............................................................................................. 2 .......................................... 2-5Deaths from injury (Victoria) .....................................................................................................................11,38................................1-11,1-13Dishwasher machine detergents - Update ....................................................................................................... 18 ............................................ 11DIY maintenance injuries ................................................................................................................................. 41 ........................................1-12Dog bites, dog related injuries .......................................................................................................3,12,25,26,34.................5-6,12,13,7-13,2-5Domestic architectural glass ....................................................................................................................7,22,25.............................9-10,1-5,12Domestic Violence ......................................................................................................................................21,30....................................1-9,3-4Drowning/near drowning, including updates .................................................................................... 2,5,7,30,34.......................3,1-4,7,6-9,5-7Elastic Luggage Straps ...................................................................................................................................... 43 .......................................... 2-6Escalator ............................................................................................................................................................ 24 ........................................9-13Exercise bicycles, update .................................................................................................................................5,9 ...................................6,13-14Falls - Child, Older Persons ..................................................................................................................44,45,48.......................1-17,1-15,1-12Farm ......................................................................................................................................................30,33.....................................4,1-13Finger jam .........................................................................................................................................10,14,16,25......................5,5-6,9-10,9-10Fireworks ........................................................................................................................................................... 47 .......................................... 2-7Geographic regions of injury ............................................................................................................................ 46 ........................................1-17Home ......................................................................................................................................................14,32............................... 1-16, 1-13Horse related ..................................................................................................................................................7,23 ..................................1-6,1-13ICD-10 AM coding developments ................................................................................................................... 43 ........................................8-13Infants - injuries in the first year of life ............................................................................................................. 8 ........................................7-12Injury surveillance developments ..................................................................................................................... 30 .......................................... 1-5Intentional ......................................................................................................................................................... 13 ........................................6-11Latrobe Valley - The first 3 months, Injury surveillance & prevention in L-V ........ 9, March 1992, Feb 1994 ....................... 9-13, 1-8, 1-14Lawn mowers .................................................................................................................................................... 22 .......................................... 5-9Martial arts ........................................................................................................................................................ 11 ............................................ 12Motor vehicle related injuries, non-traffic ....................................................................................................... 20 .......................................... 1-9Needlestick injuries ................................................................................................................................11,17,25..............................12,8,10-11Nursery furniture .........................................................................................................................................37,44..............................1-13,11-13Older people ...................................................................................................................................................... 19 ........................................1-13Off-street parking areas .................................................................................................................................... 20 ......................................10-11Playground equipment ......................................................................................................... 3,10,14,16,25,29,44..... 7-9,4,8,8-9,13,1-12,13-14Poisons - Domestic chemical and plant poisoning............................................................................... 28 .......................................... 1-7

- Drug safety and poisons control ............................................................................................. 4.......................................... 1-9- Dishwasher detergent, update ............................................................................................10,6 .....................................9-10,9- Early Childhood, Child Resistant Closures .................................................................27,2,47...........................1-14,3,11-15- Adult overview ...................................................................................................................... 39 ........................................1-17

Power saws ........................................................................................................................................................ 28 ........................................8-13Roller Blades .....................................................................................................................................15,25,31,44.........................11-13,12,12,8School ............................................................................................................................................................ 10 .......................................... 1-8Shopping trolleys ...................................................................................................................................22,25,42...........................10-12,8-9,12Skateboard ......................................................................................................................................................2,31 ....................................1-2,3-7Smoking Related ...............................................................................................................................21,25,29,44.............................10-12,6-7,8Socio-economic status and injury ..................................................................................................................... 49 ........................................1-17Sports - Child sports, Adult sports.........................................................................................8,9,44,15.................1-6,1-8,15-16,1-10Suicide - motor vehicle exhaust gas .................................................................................................11,20,25,41........................5-6,2-4,3-4,13Tractor ......................................................................................................................................................24,47..................................1-8,8-10Trail bikes .......................................................................................................................................................... 31 .......................................... 7-9Trampolines .................................................................................................................................................13,42..................................1-5,1-11Trends in road traffic fatality and injury in Victoria ....................................................................................... 36 ........................................1-13Vapouriser units ................................................................................................................................................ 43 .......................................... 7-8Venomous bites and stings ............................................................................................................................... 35 ........................................1-13VISS: How it works, progress .......................................................................................................................1,26 ....................................1-8,1-5 A decade of Victorian injury surveillance ............................................................................................. 40 ........................................1-17Work Related ..............................................................................................................................................17,18................................1-13,1-10

VICTORIAN INJURY SURVEILLANCE & APPLIED RESEARCH SYSTEM HAZARD 50 page 27

VISAR Executive /EditorialBoardDr Ian Johnston, Monash University Accident Research CentreProfessor Joan Ozanne-Smith, Monash University Accident Research CentreMs Erin Cassell, Monash University Accident Research CentreProfessor Peter Cameron, Royal Melbourne HospitalGuest Editors: Ms Pam Albany, NSW Health

Mr. Ian Scott, Injury Prevention Consultant, Melbourne

VISAR StaffDirector: Ms Erin CassellCo-ordinator: Ms Karen AshbyResearch Assistant: Ms Angela ClappertonMedico/Clerical Support Officer: Ms Christine Chesterman

General AcknowledgementsParticipating Hospitals

How to Access

VISAR Data:VISAR collects and analyses informationon injury problems to underpin thedevelopment of prevention strategies andtheir implementation. VISAR analysesare publicly available for teaching,research and prevention purposes.Requests for information should bedirected to the VISAR Co-ordinator orthe Director by contacting them at theVISAR office.

Contact VISAR at:MUARC - Accident Research CentrePO Box 70AMonash UniversityVictoria, 3800

Phone:Enquiries (03) 9905 1805Co-ordinator (03) 9905 1805Director (03) 9905 1857Fax (03) 9905 1809

Email:visar.enquire@general.monash.edu.au

Coronial ServicesAccess to coronial data and links with the development of the Coronial's Servicesstatistical database are valued by VISAR.

National Injury Surveillance UnitThe advice & technical back-up provided by NISU is of fundamental importance to VISAR.

From October 1995Austin & Repatriation Medical CentreBallarat Base HospitalThe Bendigo Hospital CampusBox Hill HospitalEchuca Base HospitalThe Geelong HospitalGoulburn Valley Base HospitalMaroondah HospitalMildura Base HospitalThe Northern HospitalRoyal Children's HospitalSt Vincents Public HospitalWangaratta Base HospitalWarrnambool & District Base HospitalWestern Hospital - FootscrayWestern Hospital - SunshineWilliamstown HospitalWimmera Base Hospital

From November 1995Dandenong Hospital

From December 1995Royal Victorian Eye & Ear HospitalFrankston Hospital

From January 1996Latrobe Regional Hospital

From July 1996Alfred HospitalMonash Medical Centre

From September 1996Angliss Hospital

From January 1997Royal Melbourne Hospital

From January 1999Werribee Mercy Hospital

From December 2000Rosebud Hospital

All issues of Hazard and otherinformation and publications of theMonash University Accident ResearchCentre can be found on our internethome page:

http://www.general.monash.edu.au/muarc/visar

VICTORIAN INJURY SURVEILLANCE & APPLIED RESEARCH SYSTEM HAZARD 50 page 28

VISAR is a project of the Monash University Accident Research Centre.

Hazard was produced by the Victorian Injury Surveillance and Applied Research System (VISAR)with the layout assistance of Glenda Cairns, Monash University Accident Research Centre.

Illustrations by Jocelyn Bell*.

ISSN-1320-0593

Printed by Work & Turner Pty Ltd, Tullamarine

*Copyright clause: Copyright for all creative property as commissioned including sketches, remains under theexclusive ownership of Jocelyn Bell.

Project Funded byVictorian Health Promotion Foundation